How does the Nipkow spinning disk system work?
The BD Pathway™ high-content bioimager uses a multi-pinhole Nipkow spinning disk, so named after its inventor Paul Nipkow. The disk contains multiple sets of spirally arranged pinholes placed in the image plane of the objective lens. A select region of the disk is illuminated from the rear by a column of light. The highly reduced images of the pinholes are focused by the objective lens onto the specimen. When spinning at a rapid rate, the pinhole coverage of the sample is completed several hundred times per second, effectively creating a full image of the focal plane in real time. Emitted light is collected and imaged using a high resolution and high quantum efficiency CCD camera.
