Raptor

To make a normal microscope smarter and faster in order to perform structural and functional imaging of single neurons. Today it’s possible thanks to Raptor, a laser scan device able to transform a standard microscope in a two photons microscope.

Raptor uses two scanning modes: raster scan mode, based on a galvanometer scan head, and random access mode, based on its 3D scan head with two Acustic Optic Deflectors (AODs); they are complementary modes that can be used alternatively, thanks to Raptor’s control software.

Joined and dynamic use of both scanning techniques allows to combine the winning features of these two technologies: galvanometer scan head’s tunability – understood as the possibility to use differente excitation wavelenght and wide fields of observation – and 3D positioning speed head of the two Acustic Optic Deflectors (AODs) for fast recording of phenomena which couldn’t be detected otherwise.

Thanks to these unique features Raptor allows the optical recording of the membrane potential, taking spatially resolved measurement of electrical activity of single cells in sub cellular regions usually inaccessible to electrodes. Rash can also perform imaging of spatiotemporal patterns of action potential propagation in excitable tissues, such as those of brain or heart.

Raptor is a perfect working tool for Neuroscience and Electrophysiology.