Map of the Month | December | Edinburgh Instruments

Map of the Month – December

Welcome to Edinburgh Instruments monthly blog celebrating our work in Raman, Photoluminescence, and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging. Every month we will highlight our pick for Map of the Month to show how our spectrometers can be used to reveal all the hidden secrets in your samples.

December

Last year we launched the RMS1000 which brings together our expertise in fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy in a single instrument. Using the RMS1000 we can sequentially obtain Raman, photoluminescence (PL), and lifetime maps from the same sample. We can integrate up to 5 internal lasers for Raman and PL measurements, and externally mount one of our EPL lasers for lifetime measurements. Externally mounting the EPL allows for easy exchange of different wavelengths. The RMS1000 can host up to four detectors meaning one can use a CCD for Raman and PL measurements, and a PMT for fluorescence lifetime measurements.

Fluorescence lifetime images (FLIM) can be created using the scan stage mapping facility that comes with the RMS1000 Raman Microscope. The stage can be moved along three axes for 2D and 3D maps. Instead of a Raman spectrum, a fluorescence lifetime measurement is obtained for every point of the image. The powerful Ramacle software will process all fluorescence decays and will produce a map (or image) of the average lifetime or other lifetime parameters. The image shows a FLIM image of a stained pine tree section, superimposed to the brightfield image.