Assembly overview

The animation above shows you 4 major modules: left excitation arm, detection arm, sample stages, and right excitation arm, in recommended assembling sequence. This is only an overview - see the detailed instructions for each module for the latest components and their arrangement.

Left excitation arm

Optical design

Laser light from the fiber output is collimated by L1 and then redirected into the electrically tunable lens (ETL). A 1:1 relay (lenses L3, L4) reimages the ETL onto a galvo mirror (M4), which is placed at the back pupil plane of the excitation objective L5 (modified f=50 mm Nikon objective). Scanning the Gaussian beam along one axis generates the light-sheet illumination. Modulation of the ETL optical power displaces the light-sheet axially (left to right), and it is synchronized with the sCMOS camera rolling shutter (ASLM mode). The fold mirrors M1, M2, M3 make the system more compact and allow angular alignment of the laser beam.

Mechanical design

3D rendering of the excitation arm assembly. The parts that need customization in machine shop are marked red.

Right excitation arm

Optical design

Optical design of right excitation arm is identical to the left, with the only difference that the collimated laser beam is directed to the right by flip mirror (REF) and passes through folding mirrors (REF) before entering the ETL.

Mechanical design

CAD

Switching illumination between arms

CAD

Detection arm

Optical design

2D sketch with some telecentric lens and camera sensor.

Mechanical design

CAD

Sample stages

CAD