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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Yes CAD too. It has been done but not yet posted on our website :-(

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Yes I'll make sure the specs get added to the store, and also that we make a nice landing page. Below are the tabulated specs. Note that if you don't need the full design FOV then a larger aperture can usually be supported and vice versa. Black box files available.

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Good point about those rays! In fact the rays have to come from the cone of O2 (72° half-angle for NA 0.95) so in fact having too large of FOV -- more glass than needed in the upper right of O3 -- might mean clipping a few rays. Note the WDs aren't to scale here, for O2 it is at least 200um.

Still outstanding is the question of how much harder it will be grinding two sides of the front-most element, thus enabling i-DV with NA 0.8 O2 as pictured. It's definitely possible in principle and it doesn't compromise anything, just a bit trickier to manufacture and the question is by how much.

Here is a figure I prepared earlier. if you imagine the dotted (close) grind is added to on the bottom left then part of the 3D remote image is not captured.

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I don't have good answer yet on manufacturability. But I now believe the FOV of a dual-grind objective will be limited by the smaller of the two grind positions (assuming the optic axis is the center of the used FOV). A dual-grind version would work for original case and also i-DV.

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Makes a lot of sense! I'll have to check about manufacturability though.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

@retof.bsky.social , the MEMS switches I have used are far slower than your target.

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Gratifying to have been a part of the tech dev behind this (specifically high-res cleared tissue light sheet microscopy)

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Of course I'm happy to share Zemax BB file, plots, etc.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Specs continued: - 400-1300 nm internal coatings - designed for light sheet but possibly also useful for 2P: at NA 0.8 illumination, FOV 1.0mm up to ~1150nm - mechanically efficient; co-focuses with 54-12-8 - parfocal length 83 mm - M32x0.75 threads

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I'm very happy with the new ExM objective design that I've been working on with Special Optics Now looking for pre-orders using kickstarter model. Key specs: - NA 1.0 water-dipping - FOV 1.1 mm - WD 5.4 mm - EFL 7.5 mm - flat field - chromatic corrections optimized for 500-750 nm

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Bill Gates would be on that list if he hadn't given away more.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Cool use for the ASI single-objective light sheet at MPI-CBG

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I can't take credit for the passive crossbrace concept and design -- that would be @amsikking.bsky.social and friends -- but we have them to sell.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

+1 for Zulip, I appreciate having topics within channels to keep things organized. Free plan and ability to self-host.

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Maybe the day will come when the Big4 will release black box files... kudos to @pacificoptica.bsky.social and Thorlabs (and of course ASI) for doing that for their objectives.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I have noted the following, likely gathered from Nikon reps: OFN22: Water Dipping, Super Fluor, TIRF, Plan Achromats, Achromat, some WI OFN25: Plan Fluor, Plan Apo Lambda, Plan Apo VC, some Lambda S, some WI Without a spec for what exactly the FN means it's only a hint.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

I made a mistake on axial color, it's actually only 1.6um between 480nm and 680nm, and 0.1um between 488nm and 561nm. So axial color isn't too far from the diffraction limit.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

83mm parfocal, M32 threads One compromise made is axial color: 7um axial shift between 480nm and 680nm (2.7um between 488nm and 561nm) Email me if you want the Zemax black box or some specific simulation result. jon@asiimaging.com

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

I'm working on an objective lens for expansion microscopy. I have a candidate design to share. Looking for feedback before we finalize things. NA 1.0 water-dipping 5.5mm WD 1.1mm FOV, plan-corrected 8mm EFL ("25x") corrected in visible with exception noted below minimum mechanical profile

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

I highly recommend this course as an introduction to microscopy.

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Reposted by Jon Daniels

Neuronal Signalling Lab @mjc-lab.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Our snouty v3 (AMS-AGY v3) objective arrived today! Looking forward to getting it installed on our single objective light sheet system very soon...

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Do you know to what extent other objective lenses are intrinsically telecentric? Particularly comparable ones like Nikon 40x/0.8, Olympus 20x/1.0 W, Nikon 25x/1.1 W (which isn't plan-corrected but still widely used in light sheet).

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Related, I'm curious to what extent other objective lenses are intrinsically telecentric. Particularly comparable ones like Olympus 20x/1.0 W, Nikon 25x/1.1 W (which isn't plan-corrected but still widely used in light sheet), and Nikon 40x/0.8 W.

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Designing the whole optic train together makes sense for OPM or similar applications. It can be done with the BB model (which we will give out). Primary use as detection lens with expanded samples for light sheet with separate illumination path, or for epi-fluorescence including confocal.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Thank you, good point. If the objective is not intrinsically telecentric, can you still make a combined telecentric system with it, e.g. adjusting the axial position of the galvo so that the scanning is self-parallel?

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I'm working on a new water-dipping objective targeting expansion imaging. Targeting the following specs: 5mm WD NA 1.0 1.2mm FOV, plan-corrected 8mm EFL ("25x") but this is flexible well-corrected in visible minimum mechanical profile Optics question: is there any reason to make it telecentric?

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

The ASI machine shop made a nice replica model of the AMS-AGY v3 objective for us to have in the #CellBio2025 booth. The first of the real ones will be ready by the end of the year.

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

If you are at #CellBio2025 stop by and say hello at booth 1101

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Smaller fan angles were better for our application. Because Laserline only had 1° and 5°, we had a special 2° one made (which we can sell if it's helpful to others). I suggest using a slit for only modest adjustments in NA because of light efficiency.

Pan-ASLM: a high-resolution and large field-of-view light sheet microscope for Expansion Microscopy

BTW these objectives generally work for water/ExM though not specifically optimized for it. For instance the 54-12-8 -- NA 0.64 in water -- was used as the illumination objective for ASLM imaging of pan-ExM samples in www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

Expansion microscopy, a super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technique in which samples are expanded up to ∼8,000 times (after 20-fold expansion) their original volume, places high demands on the ...

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In the past this (and the glycerol one) was available for purchase only with Olympus/Evident confocal systems, not to homebuilders. Not sure if they have changed their policy.

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multi-immersion_objectives [Applied Scientific Instrumentation]

for cleared tissue see these four objectives with different NA/WD/FOV tradeoffs: asiimaging.com/docs/multi-i...

asiimaging.com

Note this would be a dipping objective and basically a regular microscope objective lens, compared to the specialized ExaSPIM lenses which are awesome but unconventional optically.

I have some thoughts in this direction... I'm thinking NA 0.75 or NA 0.8 with >10mm WD. I'm hoping to talk with researchers at Seeing Is Believing and SfN (or by email/DM) and then start the detailed design. Please reach out to me jon@asiimaging.com.

Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Here is what it will look like:

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

OK not sure why it's not posting as either png or jpg...

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Jon Daniels @jsdaniel02.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

I like Empress but I don't want to be the arbiter of nicknames. Official PN is 57-14-7 and it will be colloquially "AMS-AGY v3" on our website. It's 10mm shorter than v2. OD is flared near the threads: 30mm OD for most and 37mm OD near the threads, whereas v2 was 35mm OD all the way.

Details here: bsky.app/profile/jsda...

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High-res cellular imaging uses O1 > 1.0 with O2 being 40x/0.95 02. Short O2 WD means the grind has to sacrifice FOV in the depth axis, but FOV in the other direction (parallel the coverslip) is still 600um. For larger samples e.g. zebrafish the grind position is wider to capture the entire FOV.

4. 55° grind so compatible with any-immersion concept. 5. Two different options for grind position: one for situations where O2 is NA ~0.95 and another for NA ~0.8. This one requires a bit more explanation.

A few nerdy details: 1. Generally better imaging quality especially for those pushing the FOV. I can send plots to those interested. 2. The image plane is a few microns off the glass tip to mitigate problem with dust. 3. Improved capture of high-angle rays despite slightly reduced NA of 0.99.