Advanced Light Microscopy and Spectroscopy Laboratory

Light sheet microscopy usually requires a dedicated optical setup on an independent system, where the illuminating and detecting objective are perpendicular to each other. The Leica TCS SP8 DLS makes light sheet microscopy as easy as never before. The unique TwinFlect mirror device deflects the illuminating light sheet at a 90° angle and allows the integration of the illumination and detection beam path into the vertical axis of every inverted Leica TCS SP8 without compromising confocal functionality.

Imaging requires light, but too much light can damage your cells. Light sheet microscopy is the most gentle imaging method to date, as it reduces the overall photodamage from phototoxicity and bleaching. This automatically increases the viability of your specimen. Particularly developmental biology benefits from light sheet imaging: The combination of low light illumination and high speed acquisition allows you to follow sensitive developing organisms like a Drosophila embryo over long time periods and to understand how tissue and organs form in real time and 3D.

Light sheet microscopy is a highly suitable way of imaging sensitive samples or fast biological  processes by illuminating the specimen only in a single plane. Since there is no out-of-focus excitation, phototoxic effects can be reduced to the focal plane. It also means that you automatically have optical sectioning and you can image specimens in 3D by moving the sample through the light sheet.