The TriScan: fast and sensitive 3D confocal fluorescence imaging using a simple optical design

We present the TriScan, a compact and inexpensive fluorescence microscope that can combine the speed of widefield microscopy with the 3D-sectioning capabilities of confocal microscopy. The optical layout is based on a module that combines line-scan confocal imaging with a sensitive camera detector, realized using a simple optical layout that permits the use of arbitrarily fast scanning mirrors. The resulting design is theoretically capable of full field-of-view acquisition rates in the kilohertz regime combined with a diffraction-limited resolution and single-molecule sensitivity. In doing so, the system provides the ease-of- use and speed of widefield imaging combined with the optical sectioning of one-photon confocal imaging. The simple and inexpensive design is suitable for a broad variety of settings ranging from research to diagnostics and screening.