Argo-LM Slide V2

Fluorescent calibration* slide for low magnification systems designed for the quality control of widefield microscopes (QC).

Argo-LM slides are specifically designed

for low magnification microscopes,

and especially suited for wide-field microscopes

Example of suited systems

AxioScope
AxioObserver lines

LS line

Revolve line

Eclipse line

IExplore
BX lines

Argolight slides are designed to be used with the Daybook software to obtain the most relevant results regarding the quality of your microscope.
Discover daybook

Get quality and performance assessment solutions
Contact your local product specialist or someone from Argolight for more information.

User Stories

Dr. Patrick Then

Microscopy specialist, Microverse Imaging Center, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

“Both on our wide-field and confocal microscopes, it was clear to see that the brightness of the slides has been nicely improved on the new generation of slides. (…) Being a new facility, we are currently setting up some testing protocols, which we intend to do regularly to make sure our microscopes have reliable performances (…) For that, the Argolight slides are a very nice tool, because the measures are reproducible and signal intensity doesn’t change much over time. We’re thus using the slide as a standard testing target at our facility.”

Test carried out on Zeiss Widefield (Elyra 7 Lattice SIM) and ZEISS Confocal (LSM 980) with Argo-SIM V2.

Maria Smedh and Julia Fernandez-Rodriguez

Respectively Researcher and Head of the Centre for Cellular Imaging, Core Facility of the University of Gothenburg

“The intensity of the new slide is ~ 3-5 times brighter, depending on wavelength, compared to the 1st gen. This makes the patterns easier to find and it is easier to measure them in the orange-red and far-red wavelength regions. (…)The imaging direction is labeled on the new slide. This is nice, especially for unexperienced users, since it reduces mistakes.”

Test carried out on Zeiss confocal (LSM 780) with Argo-SIM V2

Dr Steffen Dietzel

Head of Core Facility, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich

“We could test the new slide: it was indeed much brighter than our old one. In particular with white light laser systems, where each line is rather dim compared to single line lasers, that made a huge difference. We now could record images with 638 nm excitation which was not possible before.”

Test carried out on Leica Confocal (SP8), with Argo-HM V2.

Dr. Martin Spitaler

 Light Microscopy Facility Manager, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried

“We’ve been using our previous Argolight slide to do regular Quality Control on all our microscopes. The new generation is much brighter, in our experience about 2-4x, compared to the old slides. That significantly improves QC with low NA/magnification lenses and in the red channels.”

Test carried out on Leica Widefield (Thunder) and Leica Confocal (SP8) with Argo-HM V2.

Argolight slides are designed to do routine quality assessments and reproducibility assessments of light microscopes.

They are made to improve reproducibility of light microscopy image data through quality control management of instruments (QC).

Argo-LM slides are re-usable long lasting fluorescent slides. While intensity may fluctuate with time, we warranty that they will be fluorescent for a lifetime.

Argo-LM slides fluorescence excitation spectrum is a continuum. All slides are compatible with any excitation from 250 nm to 650 nm. Emission is also a continuum starting about 10-20 nm after excitation and ending around 800 nm.

Each Argo-LM slide contains
several fluorescent microscopic patterns

Each pattern is designed to be processed with the Daybook companion software to detect aberrations and shift in microscopes performance. Users can catch issues before they can impact image quality and/or use the slides images to troubleshoot the image.

Argo-LM specifications

Lifetime warrantied
fluorescence presence
Excitation range:
continuum 250-650 nm
Storage conditions:
room temperature (10-40 °C)
and under normal relative humidity
(20-70 % RH)  
Dimensions:
75x25x1.5 mm
Emission range:
continuum from the excitation
wavelength plus 15 nm,
to 800 nm
Imaging technology
compatibility:

any fluorescence-based imaging
except depletion-based
technology and
multiphoton imaging
Materials:
Anodized aluminum enclosure
with an AG03 glass core
Immersion medium
compatibility:

dry, oil: no limitation,
water objectives: less than 20 min at a time
Light exposure
damage threshold:

50 GW/cm2 irradiance
(peak or average)

Content of the slide

Each Argo-LM slide contains 5 fluorescent patterns.

3D Crossing stairs

PAT-AG03-EM3-I9
This pattern, consists of twice 21 empty cylinders embedded at different depths, like two crossing stairs, with a step of 2.5 μm and surrounded by four pillars.

4×4 Intensity gradation

PAT-AG03-EM3-C3
This pattern consists of two layers of sixteen 100 μm- wide squares, on top of each other, having different fluorescence intensity levels following a linear evolution, organized in a 4×4 matrix.

Field of rings

PAT-AG03-EM3-B3
This pattern consists of a matrix of 53×53 rings, separated by 50 μm, on a total field of 2600 µm × 2600 μm. The field of rings is surrounded by eight landmarks and exhibits a 25 μm long cross in its center.

Repositionning crosses

PAT-AG03-EM1-H3
The repositioning crosses are 40 μm long.

Word Argolight

PAT-AG03-EM3-J3
This pattern consists of the letters forming the company name “Argolight”, rotated by 180° around the horizontal axis, and surrounded by a 220 µm × 50 µm frame.

Argo-SIM Slide V2

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