Zeiss has introduced multiplex mode for its LSM family of confocal microscopes.

The multiplex mode, which works with Zeiss’s Airyscan 2 imaging platform, delivers more information in less time, according to the Jena, Germany-based company. Smart illumination and detection schemes allow parallel pixel acquisition for fast and gentle confocal microscopy. Researchers can now image their most challenging three-dimensional samples with high framerates in super-resolution. The speed and sensitivity gain may be used to gently capture either fixed samples in larger fields of view with higher throughput and without bleaching, or dynamic processes in living specimens with minimal disturbance, the company said.

The multiplex mode provides more options to fit imaging speeds and resolution to experimental needs. It can use knowledge about the shape of the excitation laser spot and the location of single area detector elements within the Zeiss Airyscan 2 detector to extract more spatial information, even during parallel pixel readout. This allows bigger steps to be taken when sweeping the excitation laser over the field of view, improving achievable acquisition speeds, according to the company. The large amount of spatial information captured in the pinhole plane allows the reconstruction of a final image with better resolution than the acquisition sampling, Zeiss said.

The multiplex mode is available for the whole Zeiss LSM 9 line. Zeiss LSM 980 is a flexible research platform with complementary multiphoton and superresolution capabilities. Zeiss LSM 900 is a compact system designed to deliver image quality without complexity.