Mad City Labs, Inc. Microscope Lens Positioning System C-Focus™

C-Focus™ systems provide an automatic means to eliminate microscope focus drift over long time periods. Unlike autofocus systems which require use of advanced microscopes with internal focus correction or external devices which track video signals or reflected laser beams, the C-Focus™ simply corrects for microscope focus drift via a high resolution sensor system fitted to the included low drift manual microstage. The sensor system measures the lens/sample spacing and makes the necessary adjustments using the lens positioner. The C-Focus™ system has no effect on standard manual focusing and can be retrofit to any inverted microscope. After focus is established, simply pushing the “focus lock” button starts the C-Focus™ operation. Objective lens motions are accomplished with a lens nanopositioner (the Nano-F100S) which is easily connected to the objective lens and microscope with standard threaded adapters. In addition to the unique C-Focus™ operation, lens nanopositioner motion can also be directly commanded by digital (16-bit USB) or analog signals and can be used for high speed, high resolution confocal imaging and other imaging tasks with demanding focus requirements. The C-Focus™ lens positioning system contains the same proprietary, low noise PicoQ® position sensors used in the Nano-F100S and is capable of sub-nanometer positioning resolution. The 16-bit USB digital computer interface is included with all C-Focus™ controllers.