Analytical instruments have a wide range of applications in scientific research, industrial production, life sciences and many other fields. Lasers are required as a light source in many analytical measuring instruments, such as laser interferometer, laser confocal microscope, laser particle sizer, Fourier transform spectrometer and so on. The lasers available are gas lasers (helium-neon lasers and argon ion lasers), solid-state lasers, semiconductor lasers, and so on. Each type of laser has advantages and limitations. For a specific kind of analytical instrument, which laser is more appropriate, need to be analyzed from the performance and price, volume, reliability and other aspects. This article specifically introduces the German LASOS company's laser in the application of analytical measurement instruments.
Germany LASOS GMBH company, located in the European photonics center Jena, from 1966 as the Siemens laser division, began to develop and produce He-Ne lasers, has now formed a He-Ne lasers, Ar ion lasers, semiconductor lasers, single-frequency all-solid-state lasers, fiber-coupled accessories, such as a number of world-renowned laser company's product line. LASOS currently has 125 employees and 6500 square meters of plant, providing a variety of laser light sources for biophotonics, Raman spectroscopy, interferometry, holography and other applications, and has become the OEM laser light source supplier for many of the world's leading analytical and measurement instrumentation manufacturers.
Application of laser in laser confocal microscope
Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is a state-of-the-art analytical instrument for molecular and cellular biology that utilizes computers, lasers and image processing technology to obtain three-dimensional data of biological samples. It is mainly used to observe the structure of living cells and the biological changes of specific molecules and ions, quantitative analysis, and real-time quantitative determination.
The working principle of laser confocal is simply expressed that it adopts laser as the light source, and on the basis of traditional fluorescence microscope imaging, it is attached with laser scanning device and conjugate focusing device, which is controlled by computer to carry out digital image acquisition and processing system.
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope Optical Path Diagram
Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope uses single laser and multi-laser systems, and the commonly used lasers include the following four types:
Semiconductor lasers: 405nm, 445nm, 488nm, 638nm;
Argon ion lasers: 457nm, 477nm, 488nm, 514nm;
Helium-neon lasers: 543nm, 633nm;
Solid-state lasers: 515nm, 532nm, 561nm, 640nm and so on.
In the laser confocal microscope system, the power requirement of the laser is not high, generally tens of mW is enough, some scenes a few mW is enough. But the laser beam quality and stability requirements are very high, generally require TEM00 mode laser as a light source. At the same time, the laser structure is required to be as compact as possible, with high long-term reliability. Free-space transmission of laser and fiber-coupled transmission of laser, there are equipment manufacturers in use. Due to the simplicity of using fiber-coupled transmitted lasers, more and more laser confocal equipment manufacturers are using fiber-coupled transmitted lasers as light sources. In addition, a laser confocal microscope often needs to be equipped with multiple laser light sources, and equipment manufacturers choose different types of laser light sources depending on the required wavelength and power.
LASOS offers all of these types of lasers for laser confocal microscopy applications. The high stability and long-term reliability of its lasers have been recognized by the world's leading manufacturers of laser confocal microscopes, and LASOS has become a long-term OEM supplier of laser light sources for laser confocal microscopy systems from Carl Zeiss and Leica.
Application of lasers in laser interferometry
Laser interferometer, a general purpose length measurement that uses the laser wavelength as a known length and measures displacement using the Mykelsohn interferometric system. Lasers have the advantages of high intensity, high directionality, spatial homodyne, narrow bandwidth and high monochromaticity. Currently commonly used to measure the length of the interferometer, mainly based on the Michelson interferometer, and the frequency stabilized helium-neon laser as a light source, constituting a measurement system with interference. The laser interferometer can be used with various refractors and mirrors to measure linear position, speed, angle, true flatness, true straightness, parallelism and perpendicularity, and can be used as a calibration for precision tooling machines or measuring instruments.
LASOS has been developing and producing He-Ne lasers since 1966 and currently ships more than 20,000 He-Ne lasers per year.LASOS He-Ne laser tubes and assemblies feature a robust mechanical design, excellent beam quality and a long service life of up to 30,000 hours. Standard and customized models are available in a wide spectral range of red, green and yellow with output powers between 0.5 and 20 mW. Options include single or multi-mode, random or linear polarization and Brewster windows.
LASOS supplies HeNe laser light sources to many of the world's leading laser interferometer manufacturers, including Renishaw.
Lasers in Fourier Transform Spectrometers and Gas Analyzers
Fourier transform infrared spectrometer mainly consists of Michelson interferometer and computer. The main function of the Michaelisen interferometer is to make the light emitted by the light source is divided into two beams after the formation of a certain optical range difference, and then make the composite to produce interference, the resulting interferogram function contains all the frequency and intensity of the light source information. Computerized interferogram function for the Fourier transform, you can calculate the original intensity of the light source according to the frequency of the distribution. It overcomes the shortcomings of dispersive spectrometer such as low resolving power, small light energy output, narrow spectral range and long measurement time. It can not only measure the absorption and reflection spectra of various gases, solids and liquid samples, but also can be used for short-time chemical reaction measurement. Infrared spectrometer has a wide range of applications in electronics, chemical industry, medicine and other fields.
The main requirements of Fourier transform spectrometer for the light source used are high wavelength stability and narrow line width. As a cost-effective light source with narrow linewidth, HeNe laser is widely used in Fourier spectrometers.LASOS, as an OEM supplier of Fourier spectrometers to ThermoFisher, has been supplying HeNe lasers to them for a long time. In addition, Gasmet, a manufacturer of gas analyzers, uses LASOS HeNe lasers as light sources for its gas analyzers based on Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) technology.
Lasers in Spectrum Analyzers and Optical Wavelength Meters
Laser spectrum analyzers and optical wavelength meters are important instruments for measuring the spectral characteristics of lasers, and are widely used in the fields of optical communications and semiconductor laser manufacturing. Measurement of the spectral characteristics of the input light source using the principle of Michelson interferometer is one of the technical solutions for a variety of laser spectrum analyzers and wavelength meters.
HeNe lasers are often used as reference sources in the optical path of laser spectrum analyzers and optical wavelength meters with the Michelson interferometer. LASOS supplies He-Ne laser sources to several manufacturers of laser spectrometers and optical wavelength meters, since these instruments are frequently used and require a high level of trouble-free operation, and therefore all their reference light sources must also be characterized by a long lifetime and a high level of reliability. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
