30 Aug 2011 Princeton Instruments is pleased to introduce LightField 4.0, a new 64-bit image and spectral acquisition software package that provides a cutting-edge user interface and the powerful functionality needed to set up and perform complex optical diagnostic experiments. This unique and revolutionary software puts hundreds of useful — and very easy to use — features at researchers’ fingertips. LightField fully supports Princeton Instruments PIXIS, PI-MAX® 3, ProEM, PyLoN, and Quad-RO cameras as well as Acton Series spectrographs, including the popular LS785.
Princeton Instruments has drawn upon more than 30 years of application experience and feedback from the world’s leading laboratories to create LightField. Two capabilities of this novel software package are especially noteworthy. The first is Princeton Instruments’ patent-pending IntelliCal™ spectrograph calibration method, a LightField option that ensures pixel-by-pixel wavelength and intensity accuracy by using NIST-traceable references. The second is the ability to control Princeton Instruments PI-MAX 3 ICCD cameras through LightField via a virtual dashboard akin to a laboratory oscilloscope.
“While state-of-the-art spectrographs and cameras can deliver single-photon sensitivity, the software tools that control and complement this advanced hardware have always left a lot to be desired,” observes Ravi Guntupalli, scientific imaging product manager at Princeton Instruments. “To right this imbalance, we’ve designed LightField from the ground up… researchers around the world will finally be able to realize the true potential of their low-light-level spectrographs and CCD, EMCCD, or ICCD cameras.”
Spectroscopists will be impressed with LightField’s automated IntelliCal feature, which allows calibration of entire spectra in both the wavelength and intensity scales against the NIST database. For the first time, the spectral response of all elements in the detection path, including that of the grating and the camera, has been taken into account. As a result, the accuracy of IntelliCal calibration can be as much as 10x better than standard calibration, allowing researchers to compare their data on absolute scales.
Researchers performing time-resolved imaging and spectroscopy will also find LightField uniquely empowering. Whenever a PI-MAX 3 ICCD camera is connected, LightField automatically displays SuperSynchro timing and intensifier control. Users can interactively drag and adjust the gate delay, width (<500 picoseconds achievable with PI-MAX 3), SyncMaster, and auxiliary delays on-the-fly. Synchronizing the camera with external lasers is simple, too. LightField even automatically keeps track of gate delay/width information in the acquired file. Furthermore, with a single click, users can quickly plot “time vs. intensity” graphs to gain fast insight into the process under study.
Additional LightField features include automatic hardware detection with intelligent default setup, automatic saving of every acquisition (complete with raw data and experiment settings), direct streaming of multi-gigabyte pixel data to hard drive, “live vs. previously acquired” data comparison, live statistics, a search box, a spectrograph alignment helper, a built-in time stamp, multiple-user experiment settings (save/load), multiple-camera control, and limitless customization possibilities (via add-ins, automation with third-party programs, and the PICAM application programming interface). LightField runs on Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional and Ultimate operating systems.
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