Nikon Spinning Disk Confocal

The Nikon Spinning Disk Confocal (SDC) is an inverted, epi-fluorescence microscope. This microscope uses confocal illumination, where a pinhole is placed in the optical path to reject out-of-focus light. This setup captures light from a narrow slice of the sample, allowing for optical sectioning. For this reason, the SDC is useful for imaging thicker tissue samples. Multiple optical sections can also be captured and combined to generate a 3D image. Compared to the laser scanning confocal, the confocal illumination is implemented using a spinning Nipkow disk (Yokogawa CSU-X1), which allows for much faster scanning speeds. This, this microscope is well-suited for applications requiring rapid and multi-dimensional imaging.