660 nm Laser Module

Where 660 nm lasers are used

660 nm sits in the useful gap between visible red and the near infrared: still comfortably within silicon detector sensitivity, already far enough from the visible that many samples stop fluorescing.

• Fluorescence. Excites Cy5, Alexa Fluor 647 and APC on the red side of their absorption bands, one of the most used channels in multicolour panels.
• Photobiology and photodynamic research. Red light penetrates tissue further than anything shorter in the visible.
• Raman spectroscopy. A middle ground for pharmaceuticals and polymers where 532 nm fluoresces and 785 nm is too slow.
• Particle counting and optical sensing. Good detector response with modest component cost.
• Plant and photosynthesis research. Close to the red absorption band of chlorophyll a.

660 nm or 785 nm?

660 nm keeps you in the silicon sweet spot and gives roughly twice the Raman signal of 785 nm. It is the better choice whenever your samples tolerate it.

Switch to the 785 nm laser module as soon as fluorescence appears, which on most pharmaceutical and biological samples it does. Go the other way to the 532 nm laser module for inorganic work.