The New Leica TCS SP8 Provides Ultra-Detailed Imaging

Following on from the outstanding performance of the Leica TCS SP5 series, Leica Microsystems is once again at the forefront of confocal innovation with the new Leica TCS SP8.

Combining high-performance optics, the fastest true confocal scanner and the most sensitive detection system available, the Leica TCS SP8 is a single platform that can be upgraded to serve a wide range of imaging applications. Super-resolution and super-sensitivity imaging, single-molecule detection, CARS microscopy, high content screening, electrophysiology and deep-tissue imaging with more than one multiphoton source are all within the scope of the Leica TCS SP8 – and are available as options that can be added on as the researcher’s needs change.

Today’s confocal imaging demands a system architecture that can evolve to handle the research of the future. At the heart of the optical core, Leica Microsystems’s scanner options can be configured for resolution, speed or field of view without compromise. Scanning speeds of 428 frames per second can be reached with the new 12 kHz Tandem Scanner, whilst the Field of View (FOV) scanner offers the largest available field of view. All scanners are designed to work in harmony with either the Acousto-Optical Beam Splitter (AOBS), for fast and transparent beam splitting or the new Low Incident Angle LIAchroic beam splitters.

The Leica LIAcroic beam splitters are specifically designed to optimize optical throughput and so meet the exacting standards of high performance confocal imaging. The synergies of the Leica Spectral Detector, with its unique equal dispersion of randomly polarized light, fluorophore-adapted true gain setting and the patented Leica HyDTM detection system, ensure that each fluorophore’s wavelength is optimally separated. Combine these novel elements with the new Leica CS2 confocal objectives and the result is Ultra-detailed imaging.

Currently, life science research shows a trend towards dynamic imaging of living cells. The Leica TCS SP8 lives up to the high demands of this microscope discipline and can adapt as research evolves.

A modular design concept and an inclusive upgrade path ensure that each system, regardless of its configuration, can benefit from fundamental product features such as the fastest true confocal scanner all the way up to Leica super-resolution technology. Leica Microsystems maintains its position as world-leader in confocal super-resolution with the new Leica gated STED and LightGateTM – a patented gated technology that completely suppresses reflected light. The result truly benefits super-resolution for live cell imaging – revealing detailed high contrast images down to a resolution of <50 nm and at reduced laser power for improved cell viability.