There is no longer a need to use mercury lamps for fluorescence illumination. They are expensive, short-lived and represent a genuine risk to health and the environment (mercury is considered Toxic [H6] and therefore lamps must be treated as hazardous waste in accordance with the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005).
The alternative is to use LED illumination.
LEDs
We are offer the entire range of LED fluorescence light sources from CoolLED. LEDs are wavelength specific and can be used for single, dual, triple (and more) channel, fluorescence illumination.
The benefits of LED light sources include:
- Nearly unlimited lifespan – often over 30,000 hours of use – significantly reducing on-going costs of replacement bulbs associated with traditional illumination methods.
- No danger of bulb “explosion” which in the case of mercury bulbs is a serious health risk.
- No warm up or cool down periods – simply switch them on and off (especially good for multi-user systems).
- No need for mechanical shutters.
- Photodiode feedback to the controller to ensure a constant and stable light-source and more importantly repeatable results.
- Variable intensity from 0% – 100%.
- All excitation wavelengths available.
- Can be controlled with imaging software.
- Cost effective solution.
- Up to 4 different wavelength LEDs can be used on a microscope.
- No change in colour temperature at varying light intensities. This is especially useful if you are imaging at different magnifications using brightfield techniques.
