Press Release

Press Release
ZEISS Introduces LSM 880 with Airyscan
New confocal technology enables fast and sensitive superresolution microscopy
Jena, July 31, 2014
Today, ZEISS is introducing LSM 880 with Airyscan. The new confocal laser scanning
microscope offers high sensitivity, enhanced resolution in x, y and z, and high image-acquisition
speed in one system.
Sensitivity, Resolution, and Speed
Surveys results reveal that confocal imaging would benefit the most from increased sensitivity,
resolution, and speed. Airyscan extends exactly those parameters. Users achieve a 1.7× higher
resolution in all spatial dimensions, 140 nm laterally and 400 nm axially. The improved sensitivity
leads to better image quality and increased speed. The whole imaging process is possible with
standard sample preparation and labeling protocols.
The Airyscan Principle
A classic confocal microscope illuminates one spot on the sample to detect the emitted
fluorescence signal. Out-of-focus emission light is rejected at a pinhole, the size of which
determines how much of the Airy disk reaches the detector. Users can increase the resolution by
making the pinhole smaller, but the signal-to-noise ratio drops significantly, since less valuable
emission light is passing through. With Airyscan, ZEISS introduces a new concept. Instead of
detecting signals with a single point detector, a multichannel area detector with 32 elements
collects all the light from an Airy disk simultaneously. Hereby, each detector element functions as
a single, very small pinhole. Knowing the beam path and the spatial distribution of each Airy disk
enables very light-efficient imaging: researchers can now use all of the photons that the objective
collected.
Quantitative Imaging and Improved Productivity
LSM 880 lets the user take full advantage of large fields of view and the highest speed of any
linear scanning confocal microscope at an unsurpassed image quality. Designed for optimized
productivity, LSM 880 identifies and localizes biological molecules of interest even in the most
challenging specimens. To investigate subcellular structures at a new level of detail, the system
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provides the speed to monitor these molecules and their interactions in space and time while
minimizing the input of light.
Press contact
Microscopy
Dr. Jochen Tham
Phone +49 3641 64-3949
Email: [email protected]
www.zeiss.com/press
ZEISS
ZEISS is an international leader in the fields of optics and
optoelectronics. The more than 24,000 employees of
ZEISS generated revenue of about 4.2 billion euros in
fiscal year 2012/13. Founded in 1846 in Jena, the company
is headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany. ZEISS has
been contributing to technological progress for more than
160 years. ZEISS develops and produces solutions for the
semiconductor, automotive and mechanical engineering
industries, biomedical research and medical technology, as
well as eyeglass lenses, camera and cine lenses,
binoculars and planetariums. ZEISS is present in over 40
countries around the globe with more than 40 production
facilities, around 50 sales and service locations and over
20 research and development sites. Carl Zeiss AG is fully
owned by the Carl Zeiss Stiftung (Carl Zeiss Foundation).
Microscopy
The Microscopy business group is the world's only one-stop
manufacturer of light, X-ray and electron microscopes. Its
extensive portfolio enables research and routine applications
in the life and materials sciences. The Microscopy business
group is headquartered in Oberkochen. Additional production
and development sites are located in Oberkochen, Göttingen
and Munich, as well as in Cambridge in the UK, in Peabody,
MA and Pleasanton, CA in the USA. The business group has
around 3,000 employees. It generated revenue of 629 million
euros in fiscal year 2012/13.
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