Leica Microsystems Stellaris 8 Deep In-vivo Explorer
Location: Medawar Building. Room 2.19B.
The DIVE (Deep In-Vivo Explorer) has the following features:
- A fixed-stage upright DM6 microscope stand
- The choice of standard objective lenses and special long-working distance dipping lenses for imaging deep into live and cleared specimens
- A dual-beam Coherent Discovery multiphoton laser with a tunable laser line and a fixed 1040 nm laser line
- A range of visible lasers for confocal imaging
- Spectrally tuneable imaging with non-descanned detectors using the 4Tune system.
Technical Specifications
Standard objective lenses
The objective lenses in the table below are installed in non-adjacent positions in the standard 6-position nosepiece for objective lenses with M25 threads. Objective lenses are not installed in all positions to prevent damage to adjacent lenses as the objective lens is focused.
Position | Magnification | Type | NA | Immersion | WD | Part Number |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 20x | HC PL APO CS2 | 0.75 | Air | 0.62 | 506517 |
4 | 40x | HC PL APO CS2 | 1.3 | Oil | 0.24 | 506428 |
6 | 63x | HX PL APO CS2 | 1.4 | Oil | 0.14 | 506350 |
There is also a 10x HC PL APO CS2 0.4 NA (P/N 506424) air lens that can be installed in the standard nosepiece if required.
Specialised objective lenses
The objective lenses below have a larger M32 thread. To install these lenses the standard nosepiece must be removed from the microscope and replaced with a single-position nosepiece. Hence only one of these lenses can be installed at any one time. They have motorised correction collars which can be adjusted from within the software to correct for refractive index mismatches.
Magnification | Type | NA | Immersion | WD | Part Number |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
25x | HC IRAPO L motCORR | 1.0 | Water dipping | 2.6 | 507704 |
25x | HC FLUOTAR L motCORR VISIR | 1.0 | Clarity | 6 | 507703 |
Note that the 6 mm working distance of the Clarity lens will mean that any sample imaged using this lens will most likely have to be mounted in a deep vessel.
Lasers
The DIVE has the following visible solid state lasers for confocal microscopy.
Wavelength | Colour | Example dyes |
---|---|---|
405 | DAPI, Hoechst | |
448 | CFP | |
488 | GFP, Alexa 488 | |
514 | YFP | |
561 | mCherry, Alexa 568 | |
638 | Cy5, Alexa 647 |
The infrared laser for multiphoton microscopy is a Coherent Discovery NX with a fixed line at 1040 nm that can be used for red dyes such as tdTomato and mCherry, and a tuneable line that can be adjusted between 660 nm and 1320 nm. The fixed and tuneable lines can be used simultaneously.