FAQ: Unable to find the FOV again, what to do?

[marinesrj]

#30 What to do?
A summary of a few suggestions to attempt to find the FOV. Feel welcome to add more!

[marinesrj]

• Restart your computer. Also make sure laser emission is on (for FFUltra920 TOPAS, GUI power displays approx. 1200mW). Ensure PMTs are on. The serial numbers are displayed under the gain. And check that the PMT shutter is on (green light next to the power symbol, item 53 of shopping list) and responds (you hear a click when you click focus/grab on ScanImage).

• Tips: when you change between users, restart the computer first. This will ensure the PMTs connection is not lost.

• Do you see any loose cables? Or broken (e.g. 6-wires output cable from controlbox/MEMS driver to miniscope MEMs flex PCB)

• Check whether the MEMS is scanning by increasing the pixels/line to 1024 (or max, 2048), and use a NIR card (item i of shopping list) to see the light spot moving after the objective. For this, use lower power (e.g. 5%) and you must turn off the PMTs (via PMT Thorlabs application), close &/or turn off the PMT shutter (ScanImage/manually)

• Measure the power output of the laser with the power meter (item g). Remember to always close the PMT shutter (via ScanImage controls) and switch off the PMT (via Thorlabs app)

• Recheck whether you can detect emission signal using a standardized method, for example a distortion grid covered with fluorescent marker, or a lens tissue with yellow marker (remember to adapt this based on the objective you are using. E.g., D0309 you need a 1.5mm glass on top of the distortion grid)