An Olympus inverted microscope series that represents a completely new approach to microscope design has been recognized as among the 100 most technologically significant products introduced last year. Olympus IX3 microscopes have earned the prestigious 2013 R&D 100 Award.
IX3 microscopes are significant because they provide outstanding optical performance, along with the ability to be reconfigured quickly right at the laboratory bench. The “smart phones” of scientific research, IX3s offer open access to the infinity light path and flexible architecture, incorporating slide-in modules so users cancustomize the system in minutes. Before, to add new capabilities, users often had to take off, replace and realign fluorescence turrets, prisms, optics, polarizers, filters, nosepieces and the stage. With the IX83 and IX73, researchers just slide modules (like drawers) in and out of the light path to create instruments with new capabilities. Designed for scientists whose setup changes or grows as their work evolves, IX3s also benefit large facilities where multiple users can customize their systems for varying research requirements in minutes, reducing downtime. Olympus, third-party developers and users are already designing novel “apps” – slide-in modules and applications – to help facilitate future scientific discoveries. In addition, the microscopes deliver outstanding optical performance, with a fly-eye fluorescence illuminator and large tube lens design for even fluorescence across large fields of view.
“Microscopes now are open and flexible tools in the hands of a widening circle of collaboration and ingenuity,” said Michael Lewis, Ph.D., director of product marketing, Scientific Equipment Group, Olympus America Inc. “Developers everywhere are becoming partners in creating the next great microscopes to solve new scientific challenges.”
This is the second year in a row that Olympus has earned this prestigious award. Last year, the company’s SCALEVIEW microscope objectives, which allow scientists to peer deeper intotissue than was ever before possible using a light microscope, earned the 2012 R&D 100 Award.
Now in their 51st year, the R&D 100 Awards have long been a benchmark of excellence for industry sectors as diverse as telecommunications, high-energy physics, software, manufacturing, and biotechnology. R&D 100 Awards have identified pioneering new technologies such as the flashcube (1965), the automated teller machine (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), the liquid crystal display (1980), andHDTV (1998).
Winners of the R&D 100 Awards are selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine.