Carl Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1 light sheet fluorescence microscope

Carl Zeiss’s Lightsheet Z.1 is a multiview light sheet fluorescence microscope. The innovative system allows the user to record the development of large, living samples, delivering high-information content in a fraction of the time it takes using other techniques.

Light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) splits fluorescence excitation and detection into two separate paths, with the axis of illumination perpendicular to the detection axis. This means the user can illuminate a single thin section of a sample at one time, generating an inherent optical section by exciting only fluorescence from the in-focus plane. No pinhole or image processing is required.

Light from the in-focus plane is collected on the pixels of a camera. Parallelisation of the image collection on a camera-based detector allows fast collection of images with very little excitation light, making 3D imaging fast and light-efficient.