Dear All,
On our LSM 980 when using the airyscan mode the option of choosing the T-PMT detector disappears. I cannot acquire simultaneously using both the airyscan and the T-PMT detectors, unlike when using the internal CH detectors. When running an airyscan experiment this would be only possible in a separate track.
I don’t quite understand why it is not possible to use the T-PMT in airyscan mode. Theoretically, it should be possible. Could someone explain please? Thank you.
Best regards,
Nadia
Hi Nadia,
I see no reason why it would not be theoretically possible.
Your best bet would be to ask Zeiss directly why they didn’t include this - and maybe even submit a feature request to your local representative.
The technical problem is likely due to the way Airyscan data is handled within the image file. Airyscan images have 32 phase images per ‘channel’, and if you were to add a TPMT channel to that it would be an additional channel with 1 phase and 31 blank (or duplicate) phases (as the TPMT is not an array detector). That would likely mess with the automatic processing algorithms enough to where the Zeiss engineers disabled it because it was determined that not enough people would use the feature to warrant the additional development time to make this work.
They (and other corporate entities) are always asking themselves - ‘How many more instruments would we sell if we had X feature’. TPMT imaging with Airyscan likely just hit the cutting room floor.
Hope this helps!
-Jason
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Hi Jason,
Thanks for your reply. You might be right about that. Yes, theoretically there is no problem. I would have thought that processing the T-PMT data would be separate/delayed and just added to the end after the 32 pre-processed images. In the end, the pre-processed airyscan is one image after processing the 32.
I’ve sent this question to Zeiss week and still awaiting a reply… On my side, it’s just that the user needs it, so if Zeiss cannot add it we are switching to Leica. I hope that’s enough reason to implement it. 
I will let people know here if I hear a reply from Zeiss. Thanks again Jason.
Best regards,
Nadia
Hi @nhalidi,
I just saw your post and thought I’d share that it is indeed possible to do Airyscan + PMT acquisition in the same scan on the LSM980! The way I’ve managed to do it is by adding a confocal track (in addition to the existing Airyscan tracks) and checking the PMT option + the desired laser line. When you run Airyscan processing, it knows to leave the confocal track alone so you are left with Airyscan images + PMT reference images! I’ve found this setup incredibly helpful - it’s a huge plus for the LSM980 over the LSM880 that you can mix Airyscan and confocal tracks for an acquisition, in my opinion. Hopefully Zeiss ended up getting back to you well before I am posting this though!
Hello, if you are adding a track then you cannot image simultaneously. That’s the whole point I do not want to add a track, I would like to do a simultaneous airyscan and T-PMT acquisition, just like in normal confocal mode.
Zeiss did get back to me, it is not possible, but they did not explain why.
Otherwise, yes it is great to swap between airyscan and confocal between sequential acquisitions.
Ah, apologies! In rereading your post, I see now what you meant. Yeah, sadly it’s not possible to set up PMT collection off of an Airyscan track, just as Zeiss says. The reason I figured is because of the way they have set up the light paths for the Airyscan detector vs. the T-PMT, along with the data type issue Jason brings up. Sorry for the confusion! It’s a solvable problem though, and I’m hopeful they will address this gap soon as they seem to be trying to adapt Airyscan to be more conducive to live cell imaging with the multiplex modes. If Leica has an alternative option then that should definitely be plenty of motivation for Zeiss to get its act together! 
For now, I’ve found that the separate tracks approach is sufficient for rapid imaging applications such as live imaging if a lot of optimizations are made to speed up the Airyscan tracks as much as possible (e.g., using multiplex modes, etc.). But in doing that it’s sacrificing resolution and image quality, so at some point it’s a question of why do Airyscan over regular confocal.
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