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Dear Holly,

We have a HeCd on our Leica SP2 which has never worked well.  Their service guy is in there with it now, trying to tweak it up, but this problem has been ongoing for over a year.

The problem is noise, both very high frequency (within each scan line) and very low (between scans).  A power meter at the laser head shows steady output, but the images tell a different story entirely.  Somehow going through two fibers, an AOTF and a scan system does not agree with this laser.  I think they are using the wrong type of fiber, but they won't admit it and try the upgrade.

In recent Leica literature, the new solid state lasers are mentioned but the HeCd is very much downplayed.

Its a dead end; don't go there.

David
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In a message dated 6/6/2003 3:55:11 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

>
> Dear All -
>
> We are looking at purchasing a confocal system which includes a HeCd laser.
> I have no experience with these, but have heard they are a maintenance
> nightmare.  Is there any truth to this rumor?  Anyone with personal
> experience out there?  And what do people think about the HeCd versus a
> solid-state blue diode laser for CFP excitation?  Or versus the 458nm line
> of an Argon laser?  Any experience with the HeCd or 405nm
> diode lasers would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>  Holly
>
> Holly L. Aaron
> Molecular Imaging Center
> Cancer Research Laboratory
> University of California, Berkeley
> 447 Life Sciences Addition
> Berkeley, CA  94720
> [log in to unmask]
> http://imaging.berkeley.edu
>