Confocal NL AION for gentle 3D live-cell imaging

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The AION is a gentle 3D live-cell confocal imager from Confocal NL, providing high-contrast images from thicker specimens such as organoids, tissue samples, and plant and animal model organisms. The system allows a 25 mm field of view (FOV) with a motorised pinhole, designed to provide spot-on confocality every time. The gentle conditions for live samples enable use in long-time-lapse experiments and imaging of low-signal samples with >96% QE. This makes the product particularly suitable for live-cell imaging.

The combination of sCMOS camera-based detection and a set of filters allows acquisition of images in both visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR). This is designed to allow improved temporal resolution, high sensitivity and a good signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in fast imaging with clean results. The additional motorised single-band emission filters result in >50 fps @ 3Kx3K or >1000 fps in fixed line mode (camera limited).

The system uses a line illumination through a slit pinhole, instead of a point illumination found in point scanner confocal microscopes. This provides high temporal resolution while reducing phototoxicity. Since phototoxicity is one of the biggest challenges for researchers, this makes AION suitable for live-cell imaging.

The product can be added to any widefield microscope, which will turn it into an advanced and fast-scanning confocal imaging system. Three models are available depending on the user’s needs: AION α, AION λ and AION Σ.