Realizing single molecule instrumentation

Commercial systems from manufactures such as Nikon, Olympus, and Zeiss now exist with many design aspects directed towards single molecule studies. Of particular note is the Confocor series of fluorescence correlation microscopes available from Carl Zeiss [59]. Such commercial systems are excellent solutions for many labs. The cost of these systems can, however, be prohibitive. Furthermore, modifications to these microscopes may be necessary, particularly in the light of the rapid rate of emergence of new single molecule techniques, (e.g. it is doubtful a commercial system would be able to carry out the measurements outlined in [9,60] without significant modification). 

Zero order quarter waveplate (WPQ05M-488, Thorlabs, USA) 

Laser line filter (e.g. FIQ487/15x, Chroma Technology Corp., USA) 

Protected aluminium mirrors, 25 mm diameter, 5 mm fused silica 

50 mm focal length, 25 mm diameter plano-convex lenses, broadband anti-reflection coated.(LA1131-A,Thorlabs, USA) 

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