Andor Technology

Last updated

Oxford Instruments Andor Ltd
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryScientific Imaging Equipment
Founded1989
FoundersHugh Cormican, Donal Denvir and Mike Pringle
Headquarters
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Productsscientific cameras, microscopy systems, spectrographs, software, accessories and hardware, OEM and Custom Solutions
Number of employees
400
Parent Oxford Instruments
Website https://andor.oxinst.com/

Oxford Instruments Andor Ltd is a global developer and manufacturer of scientific cameras, microscopy systems and spectrographs for academic, government, and industrial applications. Founded in 1989, the company's products play a central role in the advancement of research in the fields of life sciences, physical sciences, and industrial applications. Andor was purchased for £176 million in December 2013 by Oxford Instruments. The company is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and now employs over 400 staff across the group at its offices in Belfast, Japan, China, Switzerland and the US.

Contents

Oxford Instruments Andor designs, manufactures, and sells scientific imaging equipment, including charge-coupled device (CCD), electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD), scientific CMOS (sCMOS - an improved Active pixel sensor), and intensified charge-coupled device camera systems, spectroscopy instrumentation, laser-based and laser-free microscopy systems and software.

History

Oxford Instruments Andor was set up by its founders, Dr. Hugh Cormican, Dr. Donal Denvir, and Mr. Mike Pringle in the mid-1980s. While studying at Queen's University Belfast, they "used their physics know-how to build a highly sensitive digital camera...as a tool for their laser research." They subsequently set up Oxford Instruments Andor to develop it into a commercial product for use in scientific research.

Oxford Instruments Andor Ltd was established in 1989, as a spin out from Queen's University, Belfast.

In 2001, Andor introduced its first EMCCD camera, the DV 465, and the company was awarded The Photonics Circle of Excellence Awards from Laurin Publishing, which recognizes the 25 Most Technically Innovative New Products of the Year. EMCCD cameras are based on CCD chips that incorporate electron multiplication, or EMCCD technology. They are used in fields such as drug discovery, where scientists need to watch vats of chemicals in real-time, astrophysics, and oceanography.

In December 2004, the company became a PLC when it was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange and raised €6.5 mln euro. [1]

Andor Technology PLC was delisted from the AIM stock market following the purchase of all shares for £176 million by Oxford Instruments in December 2013.

In 2016, Andor launched Dragonfly, a high-speed confocal imaging platform supporting multiple high-contrast imaging techniques that integrated Andor’s cameras with patented illumination technologies and optimised optical design, to deliver images characterised by low noise, wide dynamic range, high resolution, and high sensitivity. [2]

In January 2017, the company launched Spectroscopy Mode on its Zyla and iStar scientific CMOS (sCMOS) platforms. [3] [4]

In February of the same year, Andor announced the launch of the ultrasensitive iXon Life Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) camera platform for fluorescence microscopy which features single-photon sensitive, back-illuminated EMCCD technology. [5] [6] [7]

In July, the company launched a super-resolution microscopy technology, available on single photon sensitive iXon EMCCD cameras—SRRF-Stream—enabling real-time super-resolution fluorescence microscopy on most modern microscopes, using conventional fluorophores at low illumination intensities. [8] [9]

In August 2017, Andor’s iKon-XL Astronomy CCD was deployed on Antarctica Bright Star Survey Telescope. [10] [11] Also in August, scientists at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have demonstrated Discrete Molecular Imaging, an optical resolution of less than five nanometres which was developed using ultra-sensitive Andor Zyla 4.2/iXon Ultra 897 camera to achieve the highest resolution in optical microscopy. [12] [13] [14] [15]

In January 2018, Andor’s Dragonfly was recognized by the R&D 100 Awards as one of the most Technologically Significant New Analytical Products of the year. [16] [17] [18] In summer 2018 the company introduced ultrasensitive Sona back-illuminated camera platform for fluorescence microscopy, [19] as well as ultrasensitive Marana 4.2B-11 back-illuminated camera platform for physical sciences. [20]

In autumn 2019, Andor announced the launch of the ultra-sensitive Balor, a very large area sCMOS camera for ground-based astronomy applications, with the help of which the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) on the Haleakala, Hawaii, has produced the highest resolution observations of the Sun's surface ever taken. [21] [22] [23] [24]

In April 2020, Andor introduced the Marana 4.2B-6 back-illuminated scientific camera that provides up to -45 °C for 95% quantum performance and vacuum cooling. For dynamic imaging or spectroscopic applications, it offers up to 74 fps, such as wavefront sensing, lucky / speckle imaging, quantum gas dynamics, or hyperspectral imaging. In September of the same year the company started a partnership with AWARE, a Depression Charity for Northern Ireland. [25]

In November 2020 Andor launched high sensitivity camera Marana-X platform for high energy physics, direct soft X-ray, and EUV imaging. [26]

In June 2021, the company held a virtual symposium on quantum technology, semiconductors, and power generation, [27] Andor also partnered with Akoya Biosciences to collaborate in Spatial Omics market. [28]

In November 2021, it introduced BC43, a compact benchtop confocal microscope. The microscope is designed to be simple to use and is based around a Spinning Disk Confocal approach. It incorporates an sCMOS camera and a 4-line laser engine. In August 2022, Andor’s benchtop confocal microscope (BC43) won Microscopy Today Innovation Award, run by the American top-tier publication Microscopy Today. [29]

In June 2022, Andor launched Marana-X-11 sCMOS for EUV & soft X-ray detection. [30] [31] In August 2022, Andor’s benchtop confocal microscope won Microscopy Today Innovation Award. [32]

In January Andor released Imaris 10.0, a new version of its microscopy image analysis software. [33] In April 2023, the company launched the ZL41 Wave sCMOS camera platform for physical sciences, [34] followed by MicroPoint 4 photo-stimulation device. [35]

Products

Scientific cameras

Andor’s scientific cameras are used in bioimaging (including single molecule studies, live cell imaging, and other applications of microscopy), physical sciences (applications include astronomy, plasma research, etc.), and quantum research. [36] [37] [38]

Microscopy systems

Andor’s microscopy systems are used in life sciences (neuron imaging, stem cell research, developmental biology studies), bioimaging (like studying the dynamics of proteins within cells or observing cellular responses to drugs or stimuli) and in material sciences. [39] [40]

Other products

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charge-coupled device</span> Device for the movement of electrical charge

A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a major technology used in digital imaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microscopy</span> Viewing of objects which are too small to be seen with the naked eye

Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye. There are three well-known branches of microscopy: optical, electron, and scanning probe microscopy, along with the emerging field of X-ray microscopy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microscope</span> Scientific instrument

A microscope is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical microscope</span> Microscope that uses visible light

The optical microscope, also referred to as a light microscope, is a type of microscope that commonly uses visible light and a system of lenses to generate magnified images of small objects. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly invented in their present compound form in the 17th century. Basic optical microscopes can be very simple, although many complex designs aim to improve resolution and sample contrast.

Microscope image processing is a broad term that covers the use of digital image processing techniques to process, analyze and present images obtained from a microscope. Such processing is now commonplace in a number of diverse fields such as medicine, biological research, cancer research, drug testing, metallurgy, etc. A number of manufacturers of microscopes now specifically design in features that allow the microscopes to interface to an image processing system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diffraction-limited system</span> Optical system with resolution performance at the instruments theoretical limit

In optics, any optical instrument or system – a microscope, telescope, or camera – has a principal limit to its resolution due to the physics of diffraction. An optical instrument is said to be diffraction-limited if it has reached this limit of resolution performance. Other factors may affect an optical system's performance, such as lens imperfections or aberrations, but these are caused by errors in the manufacture or calculation of a lens, whereas the diffraction limit is the maximum resolution possible for a theoretically perfect, or ideal, optical system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point spread function</span> Response in an optical imaging system

The point spread function (PSF) describes the response of a focused optical imaging system to a point source or point object. A more general term for the PSF is the system's impulse response; the PSF is the impulse response or impulse response function (IRF) of a focused optical imaging system. The PSF in many contexts can be thought of as the extended blob in an image that represents a single point object, that is considered as a spatial impulse. In functional terms, it is the spatial domain version of the optical transfer function (OTF) of an imaging system. It is a useful concept in Fourier optics, astronomical imaging, medical imaging, electron microscopy and other imaging techniques such as 3D microscopy and fluorescence microscopy.

A total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM) is a type of microscope with which a thin region of a specimen, usually less than 200 nanometers can be observed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluorescence microscope</span> Optical microscope that uses fluorescence and phosphorescence

A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. "Fluorescence microscope" refers to any microscope that uses fluorescence to generate an image, whether it is a simple set up like an epifluorescence microscope or a more complicated design such as a confocal microscope, which uses optical sectioning to get better resolution of the fluorescence image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confocal microscopy</span> Optical imaging technique

Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a spatial pinhole to block out-of-focus light in image formation. Capturing multiple two-dimensional images at different depths in a sample enables the reconstruction of three-dimensional structures within an object. This technique is used extensively in the scientific and industrial communities and typical applications are in life sciences, semiconductor inspection and materials science.

Bitplane is a provider of software for 3D and 4D image analysis for the life sciences. Founded in December 1992, Bitplane operates out of three offices in Zürich, Switzerland, Belfast, United Kingdom, and South Windsor, Connecticut, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-photon excitation microscopy</span> Fluorescence imaging technique

Two-photon excitation microscopy is a fluorescence imaging technique that is particularly well-suited to image scattering living tissue of up to about one millimeter in thickness. Unlike traditional fluorescence microscopy, where the excitation wavelength is shorter than the emission wavelength, two-photon excitation requires simultaneous excitation by two photons with longer wavelength than the emitted light. The laser is focused onto a specific location in the tissue and scanned across the sample to sequentially produce the image. Due to the non-linearity of two-photon excitation, mainly fluorophores in the micrometer-sized focus of the laser beam are excited, which results in the spatial resolution of the image. This contrasts with confocal microscopy, where the spatial resolution is produced by the interaction of excitation focus and the confined detection with a pinhole.

A 4Pi microscope is a laser scanning fluorescence microscope with an improved axial resolution. With it the typical range of the axial resolution of 500–700 nm can be improved to 100–150 nm, which corresponds to an almost spherical focal spot with 5–7 times less volume than that of standard confocal microscopy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raman microscope</span> Laser microscope used for Raman spectroscopy

The Raman microscope is a laser-based microscopic device used to perform Raman spectroscopy. The term MOLE is used to refer to the Raman-based microprobe. The technique used is named after C. V. Raman, who discovered the scattering properties in liquids.

Super-resolution microscopy is a series of techniques in optical microscopy that allow such images to have resolutions higher than those imposed by the diffraction limit, which is due to the diffraction of light. Super-resolution imaging techniques rely on the near-field or on the far-field. Among techniques that rely on the latter are those that improve the resolution only modestly beyond the diffraction-limit, such as confocal microscopy with closed pinhole or aided by computational methods such as deconvolution or detector-based pixel reassignment, the 4Pi microscope, and structured-illumination microscopy technologies such as SIM and SMI.

Nikon Instruments is a division of Nikon Corporation, which is headquartered in Tokyo. Its US operations are based in Melville, New York and its European operations in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Nikon Instruments is a specialist in optical instrumentation.

Endomicroscopy is a technique for obtaining histology-like images from inside the human body in real-time, a process known as ‘optical biopsy’. It generally refers to fluorescence confocal microscopy, although multi-photon microscopy and optical coherence tomography have also been adapted for endoscopic use. Commercially available clinical and pre-clinical endomicroscopes can achieve a resolution on the order of a micrometre, have a field-of-view of several hundred µm, and are compatible with fluorophores which are excitable using 488 nm laser light. The main clinical applications are currently in imaging of the tumour margins of the brain and gastro-intestinal tract, particularly for the diagnosis and characterisation of Barrett’s Esophagus, pancreatic cysts and colorectal lesions. A number of pre-clinical and transnational applications have been developed for endomicroscopy as it enables researchers to perform live animal imaging. Major pre-clinical applications are in gastro-intestinal tract, toumour margin detection, uterine complications, ischaemia, live imaging of cartilage and tendon and organoid imaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Light sheet fluorescence microscopy</span> Fluorescence microscopy technique

Light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) is a fluorescence microscopy technique with an intermediate-to-high optical resolution, but good optical sectioning capabilities and high speed. In contrast to epifluorescence microscopy only a thin slice of the sample is illuminated perpendicularly to the direction of observation. For illumination, a laser light-sheet is used, i.e. a laser beam which is focused only in one direction. A second method uses a circular beam scanned in one direction to create the lightsheet. As only the actually observed section is illuminated, this method reduces the photodamage and stress induced on a living sample. Also the good optical sectioning capability reduces the background signal and thus creates images with higher contrast, comparable to confocal microscopy. Because light sheet fluorescence microscopy scans samples by using a plane of light instead of a point, it can acquire images at speeds 100 to 1,000 times faster than those offered by point-scanning methods.

PCO Imaging is a developer and manufacturer of camera systems for scientific and industrial applications.

sCMOS are a type of CMOS image sensor (CIS). These sensors are commonly used as components in specific observational scientific instruments, such as microscopes and telescopes. sCMOS image sensors offer extremely low noise, rapid frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency, high resolution, and a large field of view simultaneously in one image.

References

  1. ↑ Clerkin, David (4 December 2004). "Oxford Instruments Andor raise €6.5m after flotation". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. ↑ "Andor unleashes Dragonfly". 2016.
  3. ↑ "Ultrafast Spectroscopy Mode". www.photonics.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  4. ↑ "Andor Launches Ultrafast Spectroscopy-Enabled sCMOS Detectors". 2017.
  5. ↑ "Andor Launches iXon Life for Fluorescence Microscopy". analyticalscience.wiley.com. 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  6. ↑ Carroll, James (17 February 2017). "EMCCD camera from Andor targets fluorescence microscopy at lower cost". Vision Systems Design. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  7. ↑ Staff, L. F. W. (31 March 2017). "EMCCD camera from Oxford Instruments Andor has use in fluorescence microscopy". Laser Focus World. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  8. ↑ "Andor SRRF-Stream". micro-manager.org. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "Andor's iXon SRRF-Stream: Super-Resolution Microscopy Camera". analyticalscience.wiley.com. 2017. doi:10.1002/imaging.5993 (inactive 31 January 2024). Retrieved 12 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  10. ↑ "Andor CCD Deployed on Antarctica Bright Star Survey Telescope". www.photonics.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  11. ↑ Overton, Gail (27 July 2017). "Andor ColdSpace-cooled CCD deployed on Antarctica Bright Star Survey Telescope". Laser Focus World. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  12. ↑ Dai, Mingjie; Jungmann, Ralf; Yin, Peng (2016). "Optical imaging of individual biomolecules in densely packed clusters". Nature Nanotechnology. 11 (9): 798–807. doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.95. ISSN   1748-3395. PMC   5014615 . PMID   27376244.
  13. ↑ "Discrete Molecular Imaging: From Super-to Ultra Resolution Microscopy". analyticalscience.wiley.com. 2017. doi:10.1002/imaging.6029 (inactive 31 January 2024). Retrieved 12 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
  14. ↑ "IndustryNews". Microscopy Today. 25 (6): 56–57. 2017. doi: 10.1017/S1551929517000918 . ISSN   1551-9295. S2CID   232390428.
  15. ↑ "Detailing biology: Making super-resolution microscopy cheaper, more accessible to scientists | Electro Optics". www.electrooptics.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  16. ↑ "R&D 100 Award Winners Archive". Research & Development World. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "IndustryNews". Microscopy Today. 26 (3): 50–51. 2018. doi: 10.1017/S155192951800038X . ISSN   1551-9295. S2CID   232391207.
  18. ↑ "Andor Dragonfly receives R&D 100 Award | Imaging and Machine Vision Europe". www.imveurope.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  19. ↑ Staff, L. F. W. (12 September 2018). "Oxford Instruments Andor back-illuminated camera platform has use in fluorescence microscopy". Laser Focus World. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  20. ↑ "Andor Marana, sCMOS Camera for Astronomy and Physical Science". novuslight.com. 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  21. ↑ "NSF's newest solar telescope produces first images- All Images | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  22. ↑ Ben, Tishanna (29 January 2020). "First Image from NSF's Inouye Solar Telescope!". NSO - National Solar Observatory. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  23. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (29 January 2020). "These Images Show the Sun's Surface in Greater Detail Than Ever Before". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  24. ↑ "The sun as we've never seen it before - clearest and most detailed images of the Sun revealed". www.qub.ac.uk. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  25. ↑ Strong, Orlaith. "AWARE welcome global technology firm, Oxford Instruments Andor as new corporate partner". aware-ni.org. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  26. ↑ "New Marana-X-11 sCMOS for EUV & Soft X-ray Detection". AZoOptics.com. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  27. ↑ "Oxford Instruments: announces first Virtual Symposium on Quantum". marketscreener.com. 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  28. ↑ "Oxford Instruments: Andor and Akoya Bisciences to Collaborate in Spatial Omics Market". marketscreener.com. 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  29. ↑ "Awards & Scholarships - Microscopy Today Innovation Awards | Microscopy Society of America". 30 August 2023. Archived from the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
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  31. ↑ Europe, Spectroscopy. "New sCMOS for EUV and soft X-ray detection". www.spectroscopyeurope.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  32. ↑ Lyman, Charles (2022). "2022 Microscopy Today Innovation Awards". Microscopy Today. 30 (5): 10–14. doi: 10.1017/S1551929522001067 . ISSN   1551-9295. S2CID   252406932.
  33. ↑ Bulletin, Laboratory News from Lab. "Oxford Instruments?- Andor has released?Imaris 10.0, the latest version of its market-leading microscopy image analysis software". www.labbulletin.com. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  34. ↑ admin (17 April 2023). "Andor Launches ZL41 Wave Workhorse sCMOS Camera – 4photonics" (in Swedish). Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  35. ↑ "Oxford Instruments : MicroPoint 4 Launch". marketscreener.com. 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  36. ↑ SelectScience. "Andor Congratulates Nobel Prize Winners | SelectScience". www.selectscience.net. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  37. ↑ "Fast Imaging – Princeton Collaborative Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility". pcrf.princeton.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
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  39. ↑ Nelson, Mark; Ledoux, Jonathan; Taylor, Mark; Bonev, Adrian; Hannah, Rachael; Solodushko, Viktoriya; Shui, Bo; Tallini, Yvonne; Kotlikoff, Michael (1 March 2010). "Spinning Disk Confocal Microscopy of Calcium Signalling in Blood Vessel Walls". Microscopy and Analysis (Americas Ed.). 24 (2): 5–8. ISSN   2043-0639. PMC   3324844 . PMID   22506097.
  40. ↑ "Industry News". Microscopy Today. 14 (4): 66–67. 2006. doi: 10.1017/S1551929500050367 . ISSN   1551-9295. S2CID   232391046.
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