Daylight launches QCL-based IR microscope for real-time spectral imaging
Mid-infrared molecular detection and imaging company Daylight Solutions (San Diego, CA) launched what they are calling the world's first commercially available laser-based infrared microscopy platform. Marketed under the name Spero, the microscope allows chemical and sample imaging and analysis on a real-time basis using broadly tunable quantum cascade laser (QCL) technology for instantaneous "live mode" results in a small footprint instrument (requiring no cooling) that fits easily into any lab setting.
The ultrawide field of view enables observation of micron-scale features while also covering large areas very quickly for high-throughput applications. The instrument operates in the feature-rich mid-infrared region and provides high-fidelity spectral data for the accurate identification of biomolecular and chemical components of complex, heterogeneous samples. Unlike current Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR)-based instruments, full-spectrum, high-resolution hyperspectral data cubes can be collected in just minutes and with the revolutionary "live mode" capability, users can observe samples with discrete frequency illumination, allowing real-time imaging of individual spectral features.
"I was able to do more in the small amount of time that I spent with Daylight's Spero than I could ever do back home with the systems we have," says Michael Walsh, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "This microscope greatly exceeded my expectations."
Spero is powered by an easy-to-use spectral imaging software platform that enables both novice and expert users to quickly generate high-quality images and accurate spectral information. Intuitive scripting and automation features are included to allow customized workflows to meet individual user needs. By taking a user-centric and context-aware approach to software development, Daylight Solutions says that the full capabilities of the Spero microscope can be leveraged to accelerate research across a wide variety of chemical imaging applications.
"Spero provides data products and analysis capabilities that simply aren't possible with existing instruments; it represents a true game-changer for chemical imaging," says Daylight Solutions president Paul Larson. "As the first laser-based infrared microscopy platform, Spero will provide rapid, high-resolution results for applications ranging from cancer research and drug discovery to food safety and materials manufacturing."
For more information on the Spero microscope, go to http://www.daylightsolutions.com/spero.
SOURCE: Daylight Solutions; http://www.daylightsolutions.com/about/news-releases/daylight-solutions-launches16844.htm
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.