DESCRIPTION

The optical module houses the excitation system and the detection system. The Excitation system consists of a fan-cooled 50 watt tungsten halogen lamp a heat filter (infrared absorbing glass) a 6 position filter wheel fitted with optical filters and opaque filter "blanks" and dual mirror arrangement that allows simultaneous illumination of the entire sample plate.

The excitation system of the BioRad iCycler iQ PCR Thermal Cycler is physically located on the right front corner of the optical module with the lamp shining from right to left perpendicular to the instrument axis. Light originates at the lamp passes through the heat filter and a selected color filter and is then reflected onto the 96 well plate in the thermal cycler by a set of mirrors. This light source excites the fluorescent molecules in the wells.