74 BD FACSAria User’s Guide
Phase Mask
Particles near the drop edge can affect the breakoff and alter the trajectory of the
deflected drop. The Phase Mask restricts drop deflection when an event is too
close to the edge of a drop or when there are events close to the edge of adjacent
drops. A Phase Mask is used to improve counting accuracy and side-stream
quality at the expense of yield.
For example, when the Phase Mask is set to 16, the drop being interrogated will
be sorted only if the target particle falls outside the Phase Mask (Figure 2-21).
Figure 2-21 Sorted and unsorted drop with Phase Mask of 16
Decreasing the Phase Mask to 8 allows more drops to be sorted. However,
because the target particle is closer to the edge of the drop, there is more
variability in drop trajectory (Figure 2-22).
Figure 2-22 Sorted drop with Phase Mask of 8
Tip BD recommends using a Phase Mask of at least 8 when sorting single cells.
trailing drop (drop sorted) leading drop
Phase Mask
trailing drop (drop not sorted) leading drop
Phase Mask
trailing drop leading drop
Phase Mask
(drop sorted)
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