Closing the spectral gap – the transition from fixed-parameter fluorescence to tunable devices in confocal microscopy

Modern microscopy in life sciences is ruled by development and exploration of new dyes and stains (probes for histochemical staining, quantum dots, fluorescent proteins etc.) on one side, and technological improvements and innovations for fluorescence microscopy – especially high resolution and optical sectioning microscopy – on the other side. Concerning the technical innovations, several ingenious inventions have been made available for confocal microscopy. First, the acousto optical tunable filter, which allows switching and dimming of laser lines. Second the spectral detector, employing mirror sliders in front of the detectors which allow continuous tuning of the spectral emission band detected by the sensor. Third, the most challenging task: a substitute to the classical beam splitter – the device which is restricting fluorescence microscopy most. This was solved by introduction of the acousto optical beam splitter. The very last device which is still lacking flexibility is the laser source, operating only at non-equidistant frequencies and requiring a set of quite different laser sources as gas lasers, solid state lasers or diode lasers. A new approach by supercontinuum light sources is presented and discussed, which significantly enhances flexibility and coverage of the excitation spectra of typical, rare and natural fluorochromes.