European News
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Mad City Labs, Inc. has recently made changes to our European sales and support network. The product portfolios, experience and reputation of our new partners will enhance the service and support to our customers. European customers should direct all sales and support enquiries to their local distributor or contact our US office directly. |
Featured Products |
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The Nano-F Series are nanopositioner focusing elements with 100 or 200 microns of travel. A variety of quick mount adapter threads allow the Nano-F Series to be used on all microscopes.
Internal position sensors utilizing proprietary PicoQ® technology provide absolute, repeatable position measurement and for precise closed loop control. Nano-F Series nanopositioners are versitile piezo focusing elements that can be used for confocal imaging, autofocus, STORM and PALM, and other superresolution microscopy techniques. |
The Nano-LPS Series are ultra-low profile, three axis nanopositioning systems with 100, 200, and 300 micron ranges of motion in all three axes. Uniquely suited for biological samples, the Nano-LPS has a large center aperture which is large enough to hold full size 3 inch (75mm) standard slides. The Nano-LPS is adaptable to a wide range of applications including optical microscopy, optical trapping, super-resolution microscopy, single molecule spectroscopy, and alignment. |
The Nano-MTA Series are single axis and two axis piezoelectric mirror tip/tilt actuators. With nanoradian resolution in closed loop, extremely low position noise, and millisecond response times, the Nano-MTA Series systems are ideal for applications involving laser beam steering, stabilization, tracking, and scanning such as optical disc manufacturing, interferometry, FBG writing, astronomy, and active optics. |
News from Mad City Labs Inc.
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Visit us at the E-MRS 2012 Spring Meeting, May 15-17, in Strasbourg, France, Stand #7
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SPM-M Kit |
 The SPM-M Kit combines the MadPLL® instrument package with Mad City Labs high resolution nanpositioning systems to form a high performance, closed loop, scanning resonant probe microscope. The seamless integration of hardware combined with the built-in automated control of MadPLL® means that you can concentrate on getting results, not tweaking parameters. Applications for the SPM-M Kit include nanoscale characterization and nanoscale fabrication applications such as optical antennas, nano-optics, semiconductors, data storage, and more. The SPM-M Kit is ideal for research and teaching laboratories offering high performance, versatility, simplicity and excellent value.
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Cyto-Lite™: Multi-Wavelength Laser Engine |
 Cyto-Lite™ is a laser source that combines three different wavelengths into a single fiber: 405nm, 532nm, and 640nm. Cyto-Lite™ provides complete control over each laser line via a single USB interface and the supplied Cyto-Lite™ software. The Cyto-Lite™ controller and software streamlines the user interface and allows the characteristics of each laser line to be controlled independently through the single interface.
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RM21™: Microscope Platform for the Future |
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 RM21™ is a precision aligned microscope platform. The RM21™ has been designed for maximum user accessibility. This feature offers users the opportunity to develop flexible configuration microscopy instruments with ease. It has been manufactured with high precision to allow easy alignment of microscopy and optical components within its three dimensional space. In addition, all posts and fixturing points are referenced to a known datum. With a robust design, precision manufacturing and assembly, the RM21™ is the ideal platform for a range of microscopy applications such as super resolution (SR) microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and TIRF.
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Nano-Cyte® eliminates microscope drift |
 Nano-Cyte® is a 3D image stabilization system for microscopy. With Nano-Cyte® you no longer need to be concerned with temperature gradients, sample drift, and microscope drift. Unprecedented stability in the nanometer regime allows the extension of single molecule techniques into the realm of cell biology.
Join the Nano-Cyte® Revolution!
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Applications |
Mad City Labs, Inc nanopositioning systems, micropositioning systems, instrument solutions, and piezoactuators are used for a variety of applications. The following categories represent a few of the most popular applications for nanopositioners and nanopositioning systems.
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Image at left: SR microscopy (STORM) image of Cy5-Cy3 labeled tubulin from A431 cells, courtesy of Prof. K. Lidke, University of New Mexico.
Super-resolution microscopy is a blanket term used to describe several newly emerging forms of light microscopy, each of which surpasses the classical diffraction limit as described by Ernst Abbe. While conventional light microscopy attains resolving power of about 250nm, these SR techniques enable resolutions of tens of nanometers.
The SR methods depend on photo-physical properties displayed by particular fluorescent probes used to mark the particular process of interest. The fluorescent state of these probes can be proactively manipulated by exposure to specific wavelengths of light. SR microscopy exploits these probe properties to either spatially restrict (STED, SSIM), or temporally separate (STORM, PALM) the photons emitted by two closely spaced fluorescent sources so that they can be imaged separately, and in doing so circumvents the diffraction limit.
The SR methods show great promise to enable unprecedented views into the dynamic world of the cell at the nanometer scale. However, these SR imaging techniques place a great premium on the stability of the imaging system, and as the SR methods make their way into common use, a “stability limit” may replace the diffraction limit on resolving power.
Mad City Labs offers several products designed to achieve ultra-high stability in an imaging system through active feedback compensation of measured system drift.
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Fluorescence Microscopy & Spectroscopy
Image at left from Valeria Levi, Anna S Serpinskaya, Enrico Gratton, and Vladimir I Gelfand. Organelle transport along microtubules in Xenopus melanophores: evidence for cooperation between multiple motors. Biophys J. 2006; 90(1): 318-27. Figure 5(c)
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Mad City Labs' multi-axis nanopositioning sample stages, objective lens nanopositioners, micropositioning stages, and C-Focus microscope stabilization system are being used for fluorescence detection techniques including Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), confocal microscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) imaging, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) imaging, and others.
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Scanning Probe Microscopy & Surface Profilometry
Image at left generated from Data taken using MadPLL™ with Nano-OP30 nanopositioning system (Z-axis), Nano-OP100 nanopositioning system (XY axes): Fly eye, 100µm x 100µm bidirectional scan, PLL mode, constant probe signal, Z force feedback: frequency.
Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) refers to a category of microscopy techniques that form images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans a sample. Examples of commonly used probes are tungsten tips and the Akiyama probe. An image of the surface is obtained by mechanically moving the probe in a raster scan of the sample and recording the probe-surface interaction as a function of position. Atomic, and even sub-atomic, resolution can be achieved by many SPM techniques largely due to the characteristics of the piezo-actuated motion control used in SPM instruments.
Mad City Labs offers a high-resolution, closed loop nanopositioning systems well suited to atomic force microscopy (AFM), near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), and other SPM applications. Our recently developed product, MadPLL®, offers users the ability to assemble a robust, inexpensive SPM system for use in a variety of environments.
For additional information about building an SPM with Mad City Labs systems, visit the SPM-M Kit, MadPLL®, and AFM Video Tutorial pages and the Laser Focus World article NANOPOSITIONING: Piezoelectric nanopositioners forge low-cost atomic force microscope.
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Optical Tweezers & Optical Traps
Image at left from Wang, S., Arellano-Santoyo, H., Combs, P.A., Shaevitz, J.W. Actin-like cytoskeleton contributes to cell mechanics in bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 107(20):9182-9185 (2010). Figure 1(b).
Optical tweezers are capable of manipulating nanometer and micrometer-sized dielectric particles by exerting extremely small (piconewton) forces via a highly focused laser beam. Optical traps are very sensitive instruments and are capable of the manipulation and detection of sub-nanometer displacements for sub-micron dielectric particles. (Ref. Moffitt JR, Chemla YR, Izhaky D, Bustamante C [2006]. Differential detection of dual traps improves the spatial resolution of optical tweezers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103 (24): 9006–9011.) They have been used to manipulate and study single molecules by interacting with a bead that has been attached to that molecule. DNA and the proteins and enzymes that interact with it have been studied in this way.
Most optical traps are operated such that the dielectric particle rarely moves far from the trap center. The reason for this is that the force applied to the particle is linear with respect to its displacement from the center of the trap provided the displacement is small. In this way, an optical trap can be compared to a simple spring, which follows Hooke's law. The particle position can be maintained by either precisely moving the sample or moving the trap itself.
Mad City Labs produces nanopositioning systems with sub-nanometer precision that enable the particle to remain centered and beam steering nanopositioning systems which can control the laser beam path and hence the location of the optical trap.
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Magnetic Tweezers, Magnetic Traps, & Magnetic Manipulation
Image at left from Fisher, J.K., J. Cribb, K.V. Desai, L. Vicci, B. Wilde, K. Keller, R.M. Taylor, J. Haase, K. Bloom, E.T. O'Brien, and R. Superfine. Thin-foil magnetic force system for high-numerical-aperture microscopy. Rev Sci Instrum. 2006. 77(2): 023702-1–023702-9. Figure 8 [inset].
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Mad City Labs offers single and multi-axis nanopositioning systems for magnetic tweezers, magnetic traps, and magnetic manipulation. Our product line consists of piezo stages with many different form factors and features, including high speed systems, systems with apertures, and systems for high force or load.
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Nanofabrication, Nanopatterning, and Nanomachining
Image at left of 100µm square pattern created by modification of glass structure by non-linear absorption of femtosecond laser, courtesy of Y. Bellouard and Femtoprint.
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Mad City Labs nanopositioning systems and micropositioing systems are used for nanofabrication, nanopatterning, and nanomachining. The Nano-Align3 Series, Nano-Align5 Series, and Nano-Align6 Series provide multiple axes of linear positioning along with multiple axes of tip, tilt, or rotation to make parallel alignment with nanometer precision possible for accurate alignment and positioning. Mad City Labs also manufactures high speed and high load systems for special applications.
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Other Applications
Image at left from Myun-Sik Kim, Toralf Scharf, and Hans Peter Herzig. Small-size microlens characterization by multiwavelength high-resolution interference microscopy. Opt. Express 18, 14319-14329, 2010. Figure 4(a).
| Mad City Labs' nanopositioning systems, micropositioning systems, integrated systems, and instrument solutions have been used for a variety of other applications. A small sampling of these applications includes Optical Antennas and Nano-Optics, High Throughput Imaging, Phase Shift Interferometry, Particle Accelerator Beam Profiling, Active and Adaptive Optics, Lithography, and MEMS and NEMS testing.
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