Scanners

Laser scanners are comprised of turnable mirrors to angularly deflect the laser beam. By combining two orthogonal scanners, the laser beam can be scanned in two dimensions.

ScanImage supports two types of scanners:

  • Linear scanners are directly controlled via an analog position control signal. These type of scanners allow scanning arbitrary paths.

  • Resonant scanners oscillate at a characeristic frequency. The control of a resonant scanner is typically limited to the amplitude of the oscillation. To perform a raster scan, an X resonant scanner needs to be combined with a Y linear scanner.

ScanImage® supports a wide variety of scanning systems including linear (galvo/galvo, GG) and resonant/galvo (RG) systems. Resonant scanning with multiple regions of interest (MROI) is supported for GG and resonant/galvo/galvo (RGG) systems. Parallel scanning systems are supported to provide simultaneous imaging and photostimulation.

Below are some commonly used scanheads:

Vendor

Controller Hardware

Compatible Devices

ScanImage® Driver

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RMR Controller Box

RMR Scanhead

Vidrio RMR

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MDR-R (Sutter Resonant Scan Box (RESSCAN))

MOM-Resonant microscope

Analog Galvo

Resonant Scanner

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Thorlabs ECU 1

Thorlabs ECU 2

Analog Galvo

Resonant Scanner

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Analog Galvo

Resonant Scanner

Cambridge Technology

Analog series control board MicroMax 67x Series

Galvanometers

Analog Galvo

Cambridge Technology

CRS Resonant Scanner Driver

Model 711-80159

CRS series Resonant mirrors

Resonant Scanner

ScannerMax

MACH-DSP

Single Axis Galvos

Analog Galvo

Various

Various

Various

Generic Polygonal Scanner