Explanation of Chroma’s Specific “Series”
49000 Series - ET Sputtered Single Band Filter Sets
Chroma’s 49000 series of single band sets features our highest throughput sputter coatings (ET) which achieve the highest transmission levels for interference filters. These filters have very steep transitions from peak transmission to high optical density to best exploit the spectral properties of modern fluorochromes with short Stokes shifts. This is because steep transitions allow for very little spectral separation between excitation and emission bands.
These filters offer the greatest hardness and durability against environmental factors such as high heat and humidity, and are covered by Chroma’s lifetime warranty. All ET filters sets provide zero-pixel-shift image registration* between filter sets, at no additional cost.
*It is important to note that filters are only one factor in achieving perfect image registration in imaging systems. All other components and devices must also be in register.
49300 Series - ET Sputtered Single Band Filter Sets for FISH and Chromosome Painting
Chroma’s 49300 Series of filter sets are identical to the 49000 ET single band sets in design and construction, but are intended to be used with common, commercially available FISH probes and chromosome painting probes. These high-throughput ET filter sets are spectrally similar to sets commonly used to detect the family of Spectrum probes from Abbott Laboratories, and similar probes from Cytocell and other manufacturers of genetic assays. Like the 49000 Series, these sets are intended for use with non-laser light sources.
49900 Series - ET Sputtered Single Band Laser Filter Sets
Our Sputtered Single Band Laser filter sets employ the same high-transmission, high-durability coatings as our other ET sets. These sets reflect a single wavelength range and consist of longpass transmission dichroics, laser clean-up filters and laser emission filters. In addition, all laser sets feature our Ultra-Flat laser dichroics. Chroma has developed a proprietary manufacturing method which minimizes surface curvature, and all of our laser dichroics with 1mm thick substrates are <2 lambda/inch Peak-Valley surface flatness. For more demanding applications such as TIRF, STED, structured illumination or PALM/STORM, we recommend our thicker dichroics mounted into Chroma’s custom metal cubes. Our manufacturing process, coupled with thicker substrates, provides the highest level of surface flatness in the industry for imaging dichroics used in microscope cubes.
TRF49900 - ET Sputtered Single Band Laser TIRF Filter Sets
The TRF49900 single band TIRF filter sets utilize the same laser clean-up filter and bandpass emission filter as the corresponding 49900 series filter set, but also contain an additional longpass emission filter for greatly increased blocking of the TIRF laser. Both emission filters are mounted in the filter cube to provide Ultra-High signal/noise ratios. The Ultra-Flat Dichroics in our TIRF sets are 2mm thick for distortion-free reflection of TIRF lasers with surface flatness =/> 0.5 waves/inch P-V, RWD. All catalog TIRF sets are mounted in Chroma’s metal TIRF cubes. For more information, please see the supporting materials on our TIRF filter set webpages.
59000 Series - ET Sputtered Dual Band Filter Sets and Dual Band Sets With Single Band Exciters
This series of dual-band filter sets feature our high performance ET sputter coatings. Emission filters have two passbands specific for a particular pair of fluorochromes. The sets with dual-band excitation filters allow for simultaneous visualization of two fluorochromes as often required for applications such as FISH or screening assays. The sets with two single-band excitation filters allow for selective excitation, but require the use of excitation filter wheels or sliders. NOTE: sets with multi-band excitation filters are not appropriate for imaging with a monochrome camera.
TRF59900 - ET Sputtered Dual Band Laser TIRF Filter Sets
We offer two versions of each our TRF59900 dual band TIRF filter sets, each providing greater levels of blocking of the TIRF lasers than our 59900 series filter sets. One version (“-EM”) utilizes additional, single band emission filters which match the Dual band emission filter in the filter cube. This option requires an emission filter wheel to house the additional emission filters. The other option relies on one dual band emission filter which provides extra blocking of the TIRF laser, and is housed in the filter cube. The highest signal/noise levels are obtained with the “-EM” versions, however for workers who need very fast switching or who don’t have a filter wheel, the alternate version is an excellent option. The Ultra-Flat Dichroics in our TIRF sets are 2mm thick for distortion-free reflection of TIRF lasers with surface flatness =/> 0.5 waves/inch P-V, RWD. All catalog TIRF sets are mounted in Chroma’s metal TIRF cubes. For more information, please see the supporting materials on our TIRF filter set webpages.
59900 Series - ET Sputtered Dual Band Laser Filter Sets
Our Sputtered Dual Band Laser filter sets employ the same high-transmission, high-durability coatings as our other ET sets. These sets reflect two different laser wavelength ranges and consist of dual band transmission dichroics, dual band laser clean-up filters and dual band laser emission filters. In addition, all laser sets feature our Ultra-Flat laser dichroics. Chroma has developed a proprietary manufacturing method which minimizes surface curvature, and all of our laser dichroics with 1mm thick substrates are <2 lambda/inch peak-valley surface flatness. For more demanding applications such as TIRF, STED, structured illumination or PALM/STORM, we recommend our thicker dichroics mounted into Chroma’s custom metal cubes. Our manufacturing process, coupled with thicker substrates, provides the highest level of surface flatness in the industry for imaging dichroics used in microscope cubes.
69000 Series - ET Sputtered Triple Band Filter Sets and Triple Band Sets with Single Band Exciters
This series of triple-band filter sets feature our high performance ET sputter coatings. Emission filters have three passbands specific for a particular trio of fluorochromes. The sets with triple-band excitation filters allow for simultaneous visualization of three fluorochromes as often required for applications such as FISH or screening assays. The sets with three single-band excitation filters allow for selective excitation, but require the use of excitation filter wheels or sliders. NOTE: sets with multi-band excitation filters are not appropriate for imaging with a monochrome camera.
79000 Series - ET Sputtered Ratiometric Filter Sets
This series of filter sets is designed for use with various Indicator Dyes which exhibit multiple absorption or emission peaks to facilitate ratiometric imaging. This allows for the detection and quantification of ratiometric signal intensities, which may indicate changes in the concentration of ion(s) of interest, changes in pH or changes in membrane potential. Sets with multiple excitation filters require the use of a filter wheel to alternate between the various excitation wavelengths. Sets with multiple emission filters require the use of either emission filter wheels or image-splitters.
89000 Series - ET Sputtered Multi-Band Sets
This series of multi-band filter sets feature our high performance ET sputter coatings. Included are dual, triple and quad-band sets, all of which use single-band excitation and emission filters. These require the use of filter wheels or sliders, or image-splitting devices to hold multiple individual filters. The polychroic beamsplitters remain stationary in a filter cube or similar holder. These sets are image-registered and are particularly useful for co-localization studies, FRET, and simultaneous imaging in live cell applications using image-splitting devices.
89900 Series - ET Sputtered Quad Band Laser Filter Sets
Our Sputtered quad band laser filter sets employ the same high-transmission, high-durability coatings as our other ET sets. These sets reflect four different laser wavelength ranges and consist of quad band transmission dichroics, quad band laser clean-up filters and quad band laser emission filters. In addition, all laser sets feature our Ultra-Flat laser dichroics. Chroma has developed a proprietary manufacturing method which minimizes surface curvature, and all of our laser dichroics with 1mm thick substrates are <2 lambda/inch Peak-Valley surface flatness. For more demanding applications such as TIRF, STED, structured illumination or PALM/STORM, we recommend our thicker dichroics mounted into Chroma’s custom metal cubes. Our manufacturing process, coupled with thicker substrates, provides the highest level of surface flatness in the industry for imaging dichroics used in microscope cubes.
TRF89900 - ET Sputtered Quad Band Laser TIRF Filter Sets
We offer two versions of each our TRF89900 dual band TIRF filter sets, each providing greater levels of blocking of the TIRF lasers than our 89900 series filter sets. One version (“-EM”) utilizes additional, single band emission filters which match the quad band emission filter in the filter cube. This option requires an emission filter wheel to house the additional emission filters. The other option relies on one quad band emission filter which provides extra blocking of the TIRF laser, and is housed in the filter cube. The highest signal/noise levels are obtained with the “-EM” versions, however for workers who need very fast switching or who don’t have a filter wheel, the alternate version is an excellent option. The Ultra-Flat Dichroics in our TIRF sets are 2mm thick for distortion-free reflection of TIRF lasers with surface flatness =/> 0.5 waves/inch P-V, RWD. All catalog TIRF sets are mounted in Chroma’s metal TIRF cubes. For more information, please see the supporting materials on our TIRF filter set webpages.
91000 Series - Filter Holders (cubes)
We either manufacture locally or purchase from the microscope manufacturer cubes that are designed for most of the currently used fluorescence microscopes. Chroma Technology Corp produces many standard filter sets and a few custom designs for Leica Microsystems. Both Carl Zeiss and Nikon Corp. offer extensive selections of our filter sets for their new microscope models. Olympus dealers and distributors have access to our products through Olympus America and directly from us. We encourage you to work with your local dealer or representative when purchasing filter sets manufactured by us.
39000 series - AT Sputtered Single Band Filter Sets
Chroma’s 39000 series consists of our standard AT sputtered bandpass filter sets. These affordably priced filter sets provide the same durability and longevity as our premium ET filter sets, with transmission levels >90%, and are covered by Chroma’s lifetime warranty.
AT filter sets are the perfect choice for routine fluorescence detection and assays, and for most applications requiring accurate color discrimination and excellent out-of-band blocking. For zero-pixel-shift image registration, and for applications requiring the highest possible signal intensities, please refer to our ET filters.
19000 Series - AT Sputtered Longpass Filter Sets
Chroma’s 19000 series longpass filter sets consist of our affordably priced AT filters. Longpass filter sets are used in many clinical and industrial applications. These filter sets are similar to our 39000 series but use longpass emission filters instead of bandpass emission filters. This provides versatility by allowing for detecting various fluorochromes with overlapping absorption spectra and will provide high signal intensity. These sets are covered by Chroma’s lifetime warranty.
Longpass sets cannot reliably distinguish between more than one fluorescent probe in any given sample. For samples with multiple fluorochromes, please refer to our bandpass filter sets, such as the 39000 AT or 49000 ET series of filter sets.
39100 Series - AT Sputtered Qdot Filter Sets
The 39100 series are AT filter sets designed for use with nanocrystals such as Qdots. These crystals are inorganic nanoparticles manufactured with semiconductor materials which exhibit quantum mechanical properties resulting in their unique fluorescent properties. The various Qdots may all be excited with the same violet or UV wavelengths, but the wavelengths of fluorescence emission becomes longer as the nanocrystal size becomes larger.
All sets in this series use the same AT425/50x excitation filter and accompanying dichroic, with different emission filters corresponding to the emission spectra of the various Qdots.
MF100 - Filter Sets for Multi-Color FISH (Spec'd by Perceptive Scientific for Vysis fluorochromes)
Specified by Perceptive Scientific for use with Vysis fluorochromes. Please contact Vysis for the official Vysis M-FISH filter sets.
SP100 - Filter Sets for Multi-Color FISH
Designed for Dr. Michael Speicher, University of Munich. Each of the components of these filter sets (except for the SP100 set) are even steeper than the 41 series. This allows for color discrimination when using up to seven different fluorochromes. To increase brightness, each of the components is anti-reflected. Again, the SP100 is the exception.
