From: Dr A.J. Rowe <ajr@leicester.ac.uk>
  To  : rasmb@bbri.harvard.edu
  Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 17:55:46 +0100 (BST)

new on-line Imager for AUCs

Hi all AUC users !

Some of you will known that we have been working for some time on a new on-line
data capture system for AUCs which will handle ALL optics (including
schlieren, thus making high concentration work easy to do). Some of you may
also (if you came to the UK AUC Meeting earlier this year) knwo that we have
been struggling to make our Fresnel fitting algirithms deliver, although the
hardward is fine.

Well, this is just a preliminary notice to say that with revised approahces the
problems have been licked, and we now have an on-line Imager (so called because
it is NOT a 'scanner', but takes data in from the whole field at one go, via a
fibre-optics interface) all up, working and yielding great results. Multiple
schlieren patterns (up to 5 when we get everyting fixed, 3 currently) go
straight in and come out as dn/dr vs r data file, and we have used a ProFit
envirnoment to code up macros for all the usual sort of things, g(s*) plots,
easy Archibald and more !  The old difference equations of Rowe & Rowe for  low
speed eqilibrium of conct. systems can now be used, and we can probe weak
interactions up to the c. 100 mM level. (no, nOT a mis-typing).

Currently the Imager is mounted on an MSE Mk II platform, plans to build one on
a Model E are in hand (only trivial differences), and I daresay it would gon on
a MOM or even (dare I say it ?) an XL-I. For the technical, we have 786 x 512
sq pixels - and those 512 vertical pixels are needed for multiple schlieren
traces. Oh, and of course it does interference optics beautifully (up to 100
nice parallel fringes on our Svensson-type optics) and can do simple uv
absorption work (but we are not planning to rival the XL-A). 

Things in hand - ever-increasing software on pull-down menus, new green laser
light source.

IS IT TO BE MADE AVAILABLE ?

If there is interest, we are prepared to make IMAGERS available to folks, on a
'cover our costs' basis - we are talking ballpark Lstg 10K or $US 15K, plus a
computer & installation. If you think you might be interested, please let us
know. We would not plan to release it until a few things are completed, manual
written etc - but its already in daily use (with a big queue) here at
Leicester, so we have no doubts as to the soundness of the concept and the
implementation.

Just a mail expressing interest & stating platform would be appreciated at this
stage.  First published details in the forthcoming EBJ Special Issue, and I'll
be talking about it at the New Orleans AUC Workshop, Biophysical Meeting, next
Feb.

Arthur Rowe

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Dr Arthur J Rowe
Director
UK National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics
Leicester Laboratory
Adrian Building
University of Leicester
Leicester LE1 7RH    UK

Tel: +44 (0)116 252 3448
Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5602
ajr@leicester.ac.uk
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