Characterization of a fiber-coupled EvenField illumination system for fluorescence microscopy

Fluorescence microscopy benefits from spatially and temporally homogeneous illumination with the area matched to shape size of camera sensor. Fiber-coupled schemes have added benefit straightforward robust alignment ease installation compared free-space coupled illumination. Commercial open-source fiber-coupled, homogenized recently become available public; however, there been no published comparisons speckle reduction date. We characterize three different multimode fibers in combination two laser devices compare spatial temporal profiles a commercial unit. This work yields new design, EvenField Illuminator, which is freely for researchers integrate into their own imaging systems.