The Olympus FV3000 confocal laser scanning microscope system is equipped with seven laser diodes with wavelengths of 405nm, 445nm, 488nm, 514nm, 561nm, 594nm and 630nm for excitation of all common fluorophores. On the detection side, four highly sensitive, cooled GaAsP hybrid detectors are available. In addition to the normal galvo scanner, the system is also equipped with a resonance scanner, which can be used to achieve very high frame rates e.g., for observing fast processes in live-cell imaging. The Olympus FV3000 offers a special option with the two objectives with low magnification numbers of 4x and 1.25x, respectively. These allow scanning of large samples, e.g. plant tissue preparations, in so-called confocal macro imaging. In combination with the "tile-scan" function and an intelligent focus strategy for combining several focal planes in one scan. Thus, very large areas can be imaged in one scan. The system can also be used for bleaching and photomanipulation experiments such as FRAP, acceptor photobleaching and photoactivation.

For the investigation of living mammalian cells, a large incubation box is available for measurements at 37°C and optionally CO2 atmosphere.

The PicoQuant extension for spectroscopic measurements such as FLIM, FCS and anisotropy imaging provides four pulsed laser diodes with variable repetition rate of wavelengths 440nm, 485nm, 510nm and 560nm. These wavelengths are very well suited for excitation of the common FRET pairs EGFP-mCherry, Cerulean-Venus or even Venus-mCherry. The lasers can be operated in the so-called "PIE mode" ("pulsed interleaved excitation") for the joint excitation of donor and acceptor molecules in FRET measurements. On the detection side, the FLIM extension features two single photon sensitive hybrid detectors as well as two avalanche photodiodes (τ-SPAD) and two modules for time-correlated single photon counting. The module "Hydra Harp 400" allows a temporal resolution of down to one picosecond in the registration of the signals, while the rapidFLIM module "Multi Harp150" allows a much higher total count rate per time due to an extremely short dead time. Thus, many photons can be detected per excitation pulse. This system is therefore also suitable for the observation of fast running processes e.g. in changing interactions using FLIM-FRET measurements.

The system is equipped with the following objective lenses:

• Objective PLAPON1.25X/0.04 - Macro Objective
• Objective UPLSAPO4X/0,16 - Macro Objective
• Objective UPLSAPO10X2
• Objective UPLSAPO30XS Silikon
• Objective UPLSAPO60XW/1,2
• Objective UPLSAPO60XO/1,35