BD FACSymphony A5 SE - Optics

Optics
Introduction
This topic describes the optical components for the BDFACSymphony™A5SE flow cytometer including:
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Detector arrays
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Laser options
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Optical filters
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Signal detectors
Detector arrays
The detector arrays consist of cascadagon arrays. Each cascadagon is outfitted with 2 to 20 PMTs and can
detect the corresponding number of signals.
Laser options
The flow cytometers can be configured with up to 10 lasers. The following table lists the lasers:
Laser Wavelength (nm) Power (mW)
Violet 405 200
Blue 488 150
UV 349 or 355 60
Yellow Green 561 150
Red 637 140
Optical filters
Optical filters attenuate light or help direct it to the appropriate detectors. The name and spectral
characteristics of each filter appear on its holder.
There are two types of optical filters in the BDFACSymphony™A5SE flow cytometer:
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Longpass dichroic mirrors (LPs) Transmit wavelengths that are longer than the specified value and reflect
all light below the specified wavelength.
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Bandpass filters (BPs) Pass a narrow spectral band of light.
When dichroic filters are used as steering optics to direct different color light signals to different detectors, they
are called dichroic mirrors. LP dichroic mirrors transmit longer wavelengths to one detector while reflecting
shorter wavelengths to a different detector.
20 BD FACSymphony™ A5 SE User's Guide