HLE - High-Powered Laser Engine

Andor’s HLE (High-powered Laser Engine) offers two to seven multimode laser lines in a single chassis and up to ten lines in a dual configuration.

The HLE will have features as described for Andor Laser Engines, see below for extra details.

Depending on how Fusion is set up, the features described here may be located in a different location. Please see Imaging Mode and Feature Locations.

When using the HLE, ensure Output Port B is selected in Imaging Mode Settings. Once this output port is selected, you can avail of the attenuation options available (×0.1, ×0.01, ×0.001) which will be applied to the laser intensity when low power mode is turned on.

Channel Settings

Low Power Mode - HLE provide the option of restricting the power, allowing fine control of the laser power to prevent overexposure and bleaching of the sample.

When combined with the Dragonfly Image Modes, the power setting may change depending on which image mode is selected. To do so select Low power mode ON, and then select the level of laser attenuation desired (0.1X; 0.01X and 0.001X). In Confocal mode, usually attenuation level is 0.1X (corresponding to 0.2% - 10%. of full laser power). In Widefield and TIRF modes, attenuation can be higher. Please note that the attenuation lever is experiment dependent and the user should select the best level for their own experiments.

If the low power mode is OFF, the user can select the full laser power ( up to 100%). In the case of the HLE Low power mode OFF is useful for applications such as Single Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM) which require high laser power.

Low Power Level - When low power mode is ON the user can select the level of attenuation for the desired experiment specifically attenuate: 0.1X; 0.01X and 0.001X of the full laser power.

Burst Shutter Mode

Currently, the HLE for the 561 and 592 high-power lasers (561 nm - 1000 mW, 592 nm 100 mW) have mechanical shutters. In order not to compromise the acquisition speed at acquisitions speeds higher than 10 Hz Fusion has an automatic shutter mode that will be enabled if acquisitions are faster than 10Hz. This automatic shutter mode - is named Burst Shutter Mode- and is only activated for the 561 and 592 laser high power lines.

Burst shutter mode will be applied to a protocol when a laser with a mechanical shutter is used and acquisition speeds exceed the frequency limit of the HLE mechanical shutter. Burst shutter mode will keep the shutter open for the duration of the acquisition and close the shutter immediately after the protocol/time element is finished.

If running a multi-channel acquisition (with a high-powered mechanical shutter laser on only one channel) and the acquisition speed exceeds the frequency limit of the HLE mechanical shutter, the acquisition will be blocked and the user will be informed by an error notification in the Problem Notification Panel. A problem resolution will be provided to allow the user to proceed with the acquisition by increasing the time interval to be above the acquisition limit threshold.