The stringent opto-mechanical requirements for single-mode fiber beam coupling have traditionally made combining multiple fiber-coupled lasers a complex task. Typically, a highly stable, precision alignment system was required to align the laser to the fiber; combining multiple lasers necessitated the cost and complexity of dichroic beamsplitters, polarizers and waveplates at each successive laser wavelength. In contrast, OBIS Galaxy uses a cost-effective implementation of refractive, passive optical components and a novel fiber with constant numerical aperture (NA) over the entire 405 nm to 640 nm range. This reduces the task to simple plug-and-play with FC fiber connectors.
The main applications for OBIS Galaxy will be in bioinstrumentation, including flow cytometry and confocal microscopy, where multiple wavelengths enable simultaneous and/or tandem use of multiple fluorescent probes and markers. This will include new instruments and configurations, as well as providing an upgrade path for limited-architecture instruments. For example, OBIS Galaxy can be connected to a single laser input port in a cytometer, thus converting it into eight ports, analogous to the use of a computer USB hub.