36
Chapter 6 – Using the MITICO Illumination Combiner
Illumination Parameters
Show Illumination Parameters. Check/uncheck this box to display/hide additional, calculated, optical
parameters.
Incident Angle [°]. This is the angle of the laser beam relative to the normal of the glass-to-medium
interface. settings. See the Graph description above for the definition of the Incident Angle.
Current NA. This parameter relates the Incident Angle to the NA of the objective. In the widefield posi-
tion, i.e., if the beam is on the optical axis the NA is 0. TIRF starts when the Current NA equals the
refractive index of the medium and ends when the Current NA equals the NA of the objective.
Spot@BFP [mm]. This is the distance of the laser beam from the optical axis at the objective back
focal plane.
Angle Offset [°]. These controls enable you to adjust the system in case a laser line is empirically not
at the critical angle, i.e., in the transition between widefield and TIRF illumination, even if the line is set
to the calculated critical angle (by clicking on the Critical Angle button). See a detailed description at
the end of this chapter.
The Laser Control Window
Control. Click this button to open the Laser Control window.
Shutter: TTL check box. Activate this if the laser shutter is to opened/closed via a TTL signal though
the LAS-BOB breakout box; see Chapter 4.4, The LAS-BOB Laser Safety Break-out Box. Do NOT
check this box in case Olympus Soft Imaging Solutions lasers are connected via the ODB device bus.
Shutter: Shutter button. It is active only for Olympus Soft Imaging Solutions lasers if TTL is NOT acti-
vated. Click here to open/close the laser shutter.
Intensity sliders. They are active only for Olympus Soft Imaging Solutions lasers connected via the
ODB device bus. Use the slider to adjust the intensity of the laser.