INTRODUCTION

 

Optical Products

Precise mechanical movement and well engineered electronics have always been hallmarks of Sutter Instrument Company products. Ten years ago, our entrance into the optical products market capitalized on these attributes when we set out to produce a reliable, fast, electronically quiet, computer controlled filter wheel. The result was the Lambda 10, which met all of our original performance goals, and proved itself as a very rugged and reliable instrument.

The success of the Lambda 10 led to the development of a new generation of filter changing products, and one of the widest ranges of accessories in the industry. Our current design, the Lambda 10-2 controller allows for the use of a second filter wheel without the expence of an additional controller. The Lambda 10-C has also been added as a lower cost alternative for those who do not require all the features of the Lambda 10-2. Both of these controllers can be coupled to our original filter wheel, as well as our latest line of wheels which have been designed for filters of larger diameter.

When the Lambda 10 was first introduced, most imaging systems could not keep up with its 55 msec switching time. As technology has advanced in the field of imaging, demand has increased for faster wavelength switching speed. Sutter Instrument Company has responded with the Lambda DG-4, an integrated illumination system capable of switching wavelungths in 1 msec.

As demands for high throughput and lower exposure times have increased, the need for a stand-alone high power light source was met with the Lambda LS. Now, this 125 Watt xenon lamp and power supply is available in an efficient single cabinet design. For even higher power requirements, a 175 Watt lamp with cold mirror is available as an option for the Lambda LS.

Customization of our optical product line for unique applications has become a specialty for Sutter Instrument. New technology has been incorporated in various custom and OEM filterwheels. For example, for systems using a large number of filter wheels, Sutter Instrument Company developed an RS 485 serial bus to allow up to 16 controllers to share a single serial port on a host computer.