CRISP Autofocus System

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Continuous Reflective Interface Sample Placement

Mounts onto any microscope’s standard C-mount port
Maintains ideal focus for days
Works with most normal microscope objectives
Low noise electronics allows locking to glass/water interfaces
Integrates with ASI Piezo-Z or motorized focus stages
Simple post-lock fine adjustment of focus
Automated control

The CRISP system is designed to maintain focus over time i.e. compensate for thermal & other factors that may cause the sample to drift out of focus over time. It also can be used to maintain a given focal point while scanning the sample in XY. If you are looking to find the optimal focal point while scanning through the sample in Z please see our video autofocus system.

Videos

Theory of Operation

The CRISP system projects the image of a mask illuminated with an IR LED into the sample plane. Only one half of the objective pupil is illuminated. This means that the point spread function of the objective is highly skewed, so that the reflected image of the mask will move laterally as focus is changed. CRISP detects this lateral motion of the LED image to obtain a focus error that is used to close the focus positioning loop.

Installation

CRISP is usually installed with ASI Dual C-Mount Splitter (DCMS) that contains the required dichroic beam combiner and blocking filters and provides the C-mount port for the camera.

Adjustments, Options, and Control

Built-in C-mount extension for optical offsets
LED beam iris to match illumination beam to objective pupil for optimum performance
Lateral detector adjustment
Other LED colors possible
LED intensity control
Programmable gain and averaging functions to optimize system for stability or speed