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Dear Confocal Group…

When we purchased the multiphoton system for our core facility, we were 
interested in buying
the Spectra-Physics Mai Tai hands-free laser but did not do so because of 
its limited tuning range.
Instead we purchased the Millenia-Tsunami two-box system.

Spectra-Physics has recently come out with a broad-band version of the 
MaiTai (available now) and yesterday I
had a chance to field-test the new Spectra-Physics Mai Tai hands-free 
one-box laser on the BioRad Radiance 2100
laser scanning microscopy system. Worked great!  Installation and alignment 
of this laser was very simple
and the two instruments are extremely compatible according to the BioRad 
service engineer..  The software
is basically the same as that for the narrow-band MaiTai and extremely 
simple.  Automatic tuning is extremely
smooth and takes 30 sec over the entire tuning range (from 710-920 nm) and 
you can do real time image
acquisition (scanning) CONTINUOUSLY DURING TUNING to get "ballpark" spectra 
for optimizing
image acquisition from dyes of unknown cross section. This function can 
also be used to rapidly
ascertain a common excitation wavelength for  a couple of dyes (we did GFP 
and DAPI).
This type of 1 box system is particularly useful for a lab such as ours in
which a large number of persons must use and would like to tune the laser.

The combination of rapid tuning and RS232 addressability will allow the 
unit to be controlled
either directly from the confocal software or through a macro language so 
that more
than one multiphoton wavelength can be dialed in, and mixed and matched 
with visible
wavelengths, during multichannel imaging of relatively static specimens.

The pump laser is 10W  providing PLENTY of power at either end of the tuning
range. I am glad that Spectra-Physics has bitten the bullet on this issue. 
Beam pointing
seems even better than the Tsunami so that all associated downstream 
optical alignments will be
more stable with this system and will require less attention.

Steve Potter, you're right!  This system is just what we've been waiting for!

I would be happy to answer any questions about my personal experiences with 
this system for what they're worth;
please feel free to contact me,  but for more information than I can 
provide, contact either Spectra-Physics
or BioRad about details and/or for demonstrations.

Bob Summers, Staff Scientist
Fred Gage Laboratory
Dept. of Genetics
Salk Institute
LaJolla, CA 92037
858-453-4100 x1010