Sutter Threaded Rings

Semrock has worked with Sutter Instruments to design and introduce an integrated filter wheel mounting ring for our optical filters that is threaded to match the openings in a Sutter filter wheel hub. With this inclusive mounting system, the optical filter and threaded retaining ring are incorporated into a single component (see Figure 1). Sutter filter wheels traditionally have been designed to accept optical filters up to 9 mm in thickness with each filter wheel position incorporating a mounting hardware system that consists of a filter cup and retaining ring. The Semrock/Sutter integrated threaded ring solution is designed to be installed after removing the filter cup and retaining ring. By eliminating the need for the cup and ring hardware, a Semrock optical filter and integrated threaded ring mount assembly actually weighs less than the cup and ring it replaces.

Figure 1:  Left: Traditional mounted optical filter. Right: Semrock/Sutter threaded ring mount

The Sutter threaded ring option is available for all Semrock “Pinkel” (single-band exciters with multiband emitter) and “Sedat” (single-band exciter and emitters) multicolor filter sets. The option is denoted by the suffix “-S01” appended to the filter set catalog part number and is accompanied by a nominal $20 price premium per excitation filter in “Pinkel” sets, or per excitaiton and emission filter in “Sedat” sets.

Individual catalog filters which have a substrate thickness ≤ 2 mm can be purchased with the Sutter threaded ring option. The option is denoted by the suffix “-STR” appended to the catalog part number and is accompanied by a nominal $20 price premium per filter.

Sutter threaded rings are laser marked with an arrow to indicate the Direction of Light Propagation (DLP).

• Excitation filters: the arrow points toward the shoulder, in the direction of the threads. When the filter is threaded into Sutter's Lambda 10 threaded filter wheel used in the excitation light path, the arrow points in the DLP toward the microscope.
• Emission filters: the arrow points away from the shoulder, in the direction of the two notches. When the filter is threaded into Sutter's Lambda 10 threaded filter wheel used in the emission light path, the arrow points in the DLP away from the microscope and towards the detector.

For additional details on installing filters mounted in a Sutter Threaded Ring into a Sutter filter wheel, please read the Sutter Threaded Ring Installation Guide.