Stories & Features

Semrock’s image-splitting dichroic beamsplitters are the industry standard enabling simultaneous multi-color imaging applications. The spectral edges of these filters are optimized for imaging of popular fluorophore-pairs providing maximum signal throughput, while maintaining minimal wavefront distortion in reflection and transmission thereby maximizing contrast and resolution of the overall imaging system.
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SearchLight’s System Calculators allow a user to compare the fluorescence signal and signal-to-noise ratio or contrast of varying filter sets.
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When Moez Adatia and Craig Hodgson woke up early Thursday morning (July 30, 2020), they were excited to witness a historical moment in Space exploration. “I’ve watched all of the previous NASA launches throughout my career, but this one was very special. This was my first experience working on hardware that would eventually be flown into space, and its special knowing that something I worked on, is going to Mars,” said Craig Hodgson, RD&E Director, Life Science Optics.
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IDEX Health & Science Semrock optical filters are on NASA’s new Perseverance rover that will try to definitively answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), our optical filter team developed filters for the SHERLOC instrument, which will enable the rover to identify, collect and store rock and soil samples from Mars.
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There are three basic types of Raman instrumentation. Raman microscopes, also called micro-Raman spectrophotometers, are larger-scale laboratory analytical instruments for making fast, high-accuracy Raman measurements on very small, specific sample areas. Traditional laboratory Raman spectrometers are primarily used for R&D applications. They range from “home-built” to flexible commercial systems that offer a variety of laser sources, means for holding solid and liquid samples, and different filter and spectrometer types. Finally, a rapidly emerging class of Raman instrumentation is the Raman micro-probe analyzer. These complete, compact, and often portable systems are ideal for use in the field or in tight manufacturing and process environments. They utilize a remote probe tip that contains optical filters and lenses, connected to the main unit via optical fiber.
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If you work with multiphoton microscopy, three–photon imaging allows you to image even deeper into tissues with improved contrast.
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Dr. Na Ji is a group leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus, a pioneering research center focused on neuroscience and imaging. A neurobiologist with a background in chemical physics, she develops adaptive optical methods to improve in vivo imaging and applies these methods to the structural and functional imaging of neural circuits. Check out our interview with her on her work and use of Semrock optical filters.
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Semrock’s Multiphoton LaserMUX beam combiners enable deeper tissue imaging and improved contrast in multi-color and multi-modal fluorescence microscopy. The filters set new performance standards by simultaneously achieving high transmission, high reflection, and low GDD over both reflection & transmission, while maintaining minimal wavefront distortion. Ideal for combining two femtosecond pulsed laser beams, they are perfect for optogenetics and other life science applications.
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Silas Leavesley, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a member of the Center for Lung Biology at the University of South Alabama. His research focuses on the development of optical imaging and illumination technologies for use in novel biomedical and clinical imaging applications. Leavesley is co-founder of SpectraCyte, a startup business aimed at providing a next-generation gastrointestinal endoscope.
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Super-resolution/TIRF Microscopy Cubes set the new standard for laser based microscopes. These cubes are optimized for mounting 1λ RWE 1mm thick super-resolution/TIRF laser dichroic beamsplitters. Maximize SNR and minimize artifacts in TIRF, Confocal, PALM, STORM, SIM, and other super-resolution techniques.
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