High speed slit-scanning confocal laser microscopy with an acousto-optic beam deflector and a line scan camera

摘要

Using an acousto-optic beam deflector and a line scan camera, we constructed a non-mechanical, slit-scanning confocal microscope. It generates two-dimensional 512x512 images with speed of 60 frames/sec, which can be easily expanded, to 100 frames/sec. The measured axial and lateral resolutions of the system are 3.3 μm and < 1 μm, respectively, with a 50X objective. This simple design can produce frames rates faster than other commercial products with comparable resolution, which may be useful for analysis of rapid interactions in various biological applications.