Observation of dynamic biological processes in living specimen as well as high resolution structural imaging of fixed samples has resulted in major achievements for experimental studies in biology and life sciences.
A classic confocal microscope illuminates one spot on your sample to detect the emitted fluorescence signal. Out-of-focus emission light is rejected at a pinhole, the size of which determines how much of the airy pattern reaches the detector. You can increase the resolution by making the pinhole smaller, but signal-to-noise drops significantly since less valuable emission light is passing through. With Airyscan ZEISS introduces a new concept. Instead of throwing light away at the pinhole, a 32 channel area detector collects all light of an Airy pattern simultaneously. Each detector element functions as a single, very small pinhole. Knowing the beampath and the spatial distribution of each Airy pattern enables a very light efficient imaging: you can now use all of the photons that your objective collected. The additional information from your sample is used to get better signal-to-noise, higher resolution or faster speed.
The new ZEISS LSM 880 with Airyscan introduces a new world of confocal laser scanning microscopy that offers high sensitivity, a factor of 1.7x improved resolution in x, y and z, and high speed, all in one system and at extremely low laser intensities.