Spectra-Physics lasers division has announced the release of the Explorer, an innovative low power, actively Q-switched, ultra-violet (UV) laser system at 349nm
Designed as a reliable diode-pumped-solid-state OEM laser, the Explorer is an ideal solution for bioinstrumentation applications that in the past have relied on pulsed nitrogen gas lasers.
"With a powerful combination of superior reliability and lifetime, lower cost-of-ownership, Gaussian beam quality, higher repetition rates, and increased pulse-to-pulse stability, the Explorer is an excellent, high-performance alternative to nitrogen and passively q-switched DPSS UV lasers in biomedical applications," said Jurgen Niederhofer, product manager for Spectra-Physics.
"This new actively Q-switched DPSS UV laser is the best choice for driving improvements in established as well as emerging applications in analytical chemistry, genomics, drug development and forensics".
The Explorer can be operated from single-shot up to a 5kHz pulse repetition frequency at variable pulse energies.
It uses Spectra-Physics's proprietary intra-cavity conversion technology for longer lifetimes and higher energy pulses at lower pump powers.
The standard pulse energy specifications are either 60 or 120microjoules and pulse widths of less than five nanoseconds.
The Explorer features the high peak power that is essential for demanding Maldi and laser microdissection applications.
In addition the Explorer provides a Tem00 output beam, which allows for tight focusing and high spatial resolution.
With a pulse-to-pulse stability of less than 3%RMS applications will benefit from a significantly reduced signal-to-noise ratio.
Customers can interface with the Explorer power supply either through a RS 232 software interface or via analogue TTL control signals.
The compact Explorer laser head and newly designed, state-of-the-art power supply deliver exceptional flexibility and versatility for ease-of-use and simplified integration - triggering schemes that are standard for the nitrogen lasers used today, can be directly applied.
Samples are available immediately.
