Custom Multi Port Coupler
Best Scientific Couplers Ltd have created a special multi-Port coupler solution, to simultaneously connect a telescope eyepiece and C-Mount digital camera, to a compound microscope.
Design Brief.
Our client needed to connect both a camera and an eyepiece to the trinocular port of their Zeiss Axioscope A1 microscope. They wanted to manually live view and simultaneously capture diffraction patterns via their microscope. The Eyepiece needed to be focusable so they could adjust to see the different patterns available. Such a solution to our knowledge does not exist combining an eyepiece, beam splitter and camera, all connected to a microscope. So, we decided
to develop one.
Solution
A start point for our solution was to use our ISO 38mm interface. This allows us to connect a 1x direct C-Mount coupler to the microscope. It’s modular construction also allows this to fit other microscope brands if needed. This formed the basis to add on the further functionality required.
Stacked onto this we used a 50:50 beam splitter, a prism pre mounted inside a cube for accurate alignment, and C-Mount interfaces already integrated. This gave us the even light split to attach both the camera and the eyepiece at 1x magnification.
Common sense dictated the eyepiece should be on the vertical arm, as the image here would be erect, and orientated correctly for the user. It made ergonomic sense as the user can look down on through the eyepiece. This was focusable (on thread) and connected via custom interface to the vertical port. In the image above, you can see the chrome tube with spiral, and this contains a phase telescope (AKA Bertrand Lens). The same kind you would use to see phase contrast annuli for alignment. This could then be wound up or down to focus the telescope, and view through the image planes of the optics present in the system.
The camera was therefore allocated to the Horizontal arm. The benefit here is that the camera can flip its image electronically and orientate it using the software. This would be necessary as the image from the horizontal arm would be inverted at the camera, after passing through the beam splitter. In this case the camera requested to be retrofitted already in the client’s possession
was a 2/3” C-Mount. As the system is currently 1x magnification via the ISO interface, this needed to be reduced otherwise the image circle and magnification provided would be much larger than the sensor required. We added our 0.67x standard reprojected coupler. This reduced the magnification, image circle, and presented the image correctly to the camera properly. This coupler is also focusable to aid with parfocality of the other eyepieces in the system.
Results
Best scientific couplers were able to use the full capability of our modular coupler system, combined in a new way alongside simple custom interfaces, to be to build what the client requested.
More importantly developments in the fulfilment of this request have realised an alternative solution to our existing multiport coupler.With the basis of what was created here we can substitute the phase telescope arm for another camera arm. This would allow a user to attach two cameras to their microscope but have different magnifications on each arm, accommodating different sized imaging sensors. This has been discussed in a previous case study Multi Port Innovation 2023
If Best Scientific Couplers can help you attach a camera to your microscope, please contact us today.