With a complicated piece of technology like the Zeiss LSM 510 laser microscope, you want to be absolutely certain it is working perfectly. Not surprisingly, then, such technology needs maintenance. Here are all of its assorted parts and why they need to be well maintained.
The Meta Detector
Not "metal" detector; it is a meta detector. It is also referred to as a polychromatic detector, or a photoelectric detection of polychromatic light. Put in simplest terms, this is an electrical component that is able to see, register, read, and record multiple colors in the spectrum of light waves. This part requires a lot of maintenance because the slightest off-register response creates sets of data that are not in line with previous sets of data, or sets of data taken after minor adjustments have been made to the meta detector and/or the microscope itself. When you need consistent registrations and recordings, the response time of the meta detector has to be consistent. Maintenance of this part ensures that consistency.
The Incubation System
This system is built such that it has its own enclosed incubation system. This is an excellent feature in research labs where researchers do not want to be in contact with the materials in the incubator, and/or the researchers want zero (or as close to zero) contamination of the sample being incubated. If the incubation system is not closed completely, if there are areas where leaks or infiltration can occur, then the sample being incubated will be useless to research and possibly dangerous to the researchers. Maintaining the attached incubation system is a Zeiss service that is all about safety for everyone in the lab.
The Offline LSM Workstation
Researchers want to be able to analyze and manipulate images after capturing the images under the microscope. (The word, "manipulate" here means being able to move the images around on the screen to look for objects in particular. It does not mean that researchers want to Photoshop-manipulate the images.) They also want to keep research secret, which is why it is so necessary to work offline rather than to be working online during the scrutinization of the images captured. That can only be accomplished when the software and the LSM workstation are fully functional. Otherwise, the work may be halted until repairs are made, or the research and images may be compromised if they are taken online to be analyzed and worked through, neither of which any researchers would want to do.
