AttoBright: A single-molecule confocal system built from a 3D-printed scaffold

LabOnTheCheap 3D Printing, Articles, DIY

The AttoBright is a 10×20 cm single-molecule confocal system capable of single photon counting and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The scaffolding is designed to minimize the amount of optical components needed, and make those optical components easy to install with automated alignment.

A paper by James Brown, Arnaud Bauer, Mark Polinkovsky, Akshay Bhumkar, DominicHunter, Katharina Gaus, Emma Sierecki and Yann Gambin, detail the construction and capabilities of the AttoBright. Included on the AttoBright GitHub page are the CAD files for 3D printing. and various LabView and Matlab programs for acquisition and piezo-controlled alignment.

How much will the AttoBright cost to build? The GitHub also hosts a parts list for 450nm Excitation, which we’ve done our best to recreate with prices for each part below. The whole configuration will cost you $12k, but $9k of that is just the 40x 1.2 NA objective and the single photon detector.

Part namePriceLink
laser diode 450 nm$234.82 https://www.thorlabs.com/thorproduct.cfm?partnumber=CPS450
power supply for laser diode$92.26 https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=8861&pn=LDS5#9175
achromatic converging lens$524.83 https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=6083&pn=ACA254-200-A#6784
USB based counter device with times and DIO$395.00 https://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-CTR-Series.aspx
3 Spools of PLA filament$120.00 https://www.amazon.com/Polymaker-PolyMax-Printing-Filament-Printer/dp/B07ML69CYZ
3 mirrors$66.00 https://www.newport.com/p/10D620BD.1
adaptor for objective$21.86 https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=1524&pn=SM1A35#3229
micro-controle controller$481.00 https://www.newport.com/p/AG-UC2
piezo Agilis$531.00 https://www.newport.com/p/AG-M100N
objective 40x 1.15NA water immersion$4300.00 https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/objectives/detail/0-DIRECTORY%3A%3ADirFrontend-itemId.511706640.html
BCC diverging lens$52.00 https://www.newport.com/p/KBC043AR.14
488 dichroic $445.00 https://www.semrock.com/FilterDetails.aspx?id=Di02-R488-25×36
525 emission filter$325.00 https://www.semrock.com/filterdetails.aspx?id=ff03-525/50-25
neutral density filter$52.22 https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=6106&pn=NDUV10B#3322
M3 x 0.5 Stainless Steel Setscrew, 6 mm Long, Pack of 50$10.23 https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9.cfm?objectgroup_id=1437&pn=SS3M6#10009
photon counting detector$5,300.00 Quote for MPD Bolzano PD-050-CTC