Optics - Cytek Biosciences Aurora User Manual

Optics

Unlike conventional flow cytometers that direct specific bandwidths of fluorescence light into
discrete detectors or photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), the Aurora uses a solid-state, multi-channel,
narrow-beam detector array for each laser. Each array can be configured with up to 16 detectors
that are used to capture a part of the emission spectrum from each particle passing through the
laser beam. The detector channels from all three lasers are used to capture the entire emission
spectra from each fluorescent-labeled particle. Spectral deconvolution (unmixing) algorithms
calculate the contribution of the known individual fluorophore's spectra to the total collected
signal.
Figure 8. Optical schematic
The default optical configuration has 16 channels for detection off the violet laser, 14 channels off
the blue laser, and 8 channels off the red laser. Detectors are referred to as V1–V16, B1–B14, and
R1–R8, for the violet, blue, and red lasers, respectively. The wavelengths detected by each detector
(channel) increase across the array. See the table on page 52 for details.
For excitation, a proprietary flat-top laser design enables a constant power distribution across the
width of the flow cell.
14 Aurora User's Guide