Scanners¶

Laser scanners are comprised of turnable mirrors to angularly deflect the laser beam. By combining two orthogonal scanners, the laser beam can be scanned in two dimensions.

ScanImage supports two types of scanners:

Linear scanners are directly controlled via an analog position control signal. These type of scanners allow scanning arbitrary paths.
Resonant scanners oscillate at a characeristic frequency. The control of a resonant scanner is typically limited to the amplitude of the oscillation. To perform a raster scan, an X resonant scanner needs to be combined with a Y linear scanner.

ScanImage® supports a wide variety of scanning systems including linear (galvo/galvo, GG) and resonant/galvo (RG) systems. Resonant scanning with multiple regions of interest (MROI) is supported for GG and resonant/galvo/galvo (RGG) systems. Parallel scanning systems are supported to provide simultaneous imaging and photostimulation.

Below are some commonly used scanheads:

Vendor	Controller Hardware	Compatible Devices	ScanImage® Driver
	RMR Controller Box	RMR Scanhead	Vidrio RMR
	MDR-R (Sutter Resonant Scan Box (RESSCAN))	MOM-Resonant microscope	Analog Galvo Resonant Scanner
		Bergamo microscope 2 (BScope 2) systems Bergamo microscope 1 (BScope 1) systems Acerra microscope systems Multiphoton Essentials Kit	Thorlabs ECU 1 Thorlabs ECU 2 Analog Galvo Resonant Scanner
		Multiphoton Resonant System Multiphoton Imaging System VivoScope System	Analog Galvo Resonant Scanner
Cambridge Technology	Analog series control board MicroMax 67x Series	Galvanometers	Analog Galvo
Cambridge Technology	CRS Resonant Scanner Driver Model 711-80159	CRS series Resonant mirrors	Resonant Scanner
ScannerMax	MACH-DSP	Single Axis Galvos	Analog Galvo
Various	Various	Various	Generic Polygonal Scanner