Micro-PIV (µPIV)

The micro-PIV system from OPTOLUTION consists of a synchronizer with a high-speed laser driver, a fiber-coupled laser diode, and an optical head for generating a collimated beam with 25 mm or 40 mm diameter. A kinemtic mount allows the beam to be aligned in the microscope and focused or expanded as needed. All common SM2 adapters (Thorlabs) can be used for mounting, e.g. an Epi-Illumination module bayonet adapter for Nikon Eclipse Ti microscopes.

The biggest advantage over CW lasers is the possibility of frame-straddling. This allows higher speeds to be measured by using smaller interframe times. The minimum interframe spacing is 10 µs, the minimum pulse length is 5 µs. Pulse rates of 200 kHz are possible with a maximum duty cycle of 50%. 

We offer different wavelengths with different power, e.g. 520 nm (1 W), 465 nm (2.8 W) and 450 nm (4.5 W). By using pulsed laser diodes, the acquisition costs can be extremely reduced compared to a Nd:YAG double pulse laser.

For micro-PIV measurements we recommend the very high resolution camera pco.panda 26 DS. The micro-PIV system is designed for the analysis and control software PIVlab.