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- AccuRIte - Calibration slides for label-free microscopy
AccuRIte - Calibration slides for label-free microscopy
https://www.idylle-labs.com/shop/accurite-calibration-slides-for-label-free-microscopy-843 https://www.idylle-labs.com/web/image/product.template/843/image_1920?unique=151ae0cOptical fiber-based reference targets with certified refractive indices for label-free microscopy
Want to order several slides? Please contact us to request a quote
A technology developed by Komal Agarwal and Biswajoy Ghosh (UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Physics and Technology - Tromsø, Norway)

Realistic proxies
With RI matching biological samples and randomly-oriented filaments mimicking axonal structures, AccuRIte provides synthetic "biological-like" references without the need for actual cell samples.
Get convincing data
With their certified RI value measured by ellipsometry, these substrates provide a built-in quantitative reference to validate the accuracy of inferred RI values, calibrate instruments, improve data reproducibility and increase confidence in your results.
Ready-to-use
No need to prepare samples before each experiment or access live samples: save time with reusable calibration slides!
Why should I use AccuRIte?
- As a RI phantom, to validate accuracy of your inferred RI measurements
A number of methods imply to deduce RI values indirectly (i.e. via algorithms or models), and proving that the inferred RI value is correct can be quite challenging. AccuRIte is the first tool providing absolute guarantee that the RI you measure is truly representative of the real-world value.
- As a calibration tool, to make sure that your instrument can properly quantify RI values and/or detect subtle RI differences
Making sure that the RI values you detect are accurate is key to reliable data. Built-in RI calibration softwares are often not sufficient to guarantee that measured RI are truly representative of the actual RI values of your sample, which brought the need for an external certified calibration tool like AccuRIte.
- As an internal "biological-like" standard, to increase confidence in your cell imaging results
By adding the medium of your choice on top of the fibers, AccuRIte can be imaged alongside biological samples as a built-in reference to ensure that the measured changes are biological and not due to instrument drift. Whether you're working with quantitative or relative RI measurement methods, by properly detecting RI values closer to reality, you increase the dynamic range of the acquired data and the sensitivity of the detection. Make sure you accurately quantify absolute RI values and detect all RI differences, even the smallest ones.
- As a resolution target, to evaluate imaging quality (i.e. lateral resolution, PSF behavior, system alignment, or spot artefacts)
Specifications:
- Reference structures: unlabeled fibers (randomly-oriented)
- Slide dimensions (L x l x h): 75 mm x 25 mm x 1.87 +/- 0.1 mm
- Bottom glass thickness: 0.17 mm
- Immersion medium: AccuRIte fibers are provided sealed, without any liquid immersion medium. If needed, an immersion medium of your choice (ex: culture medium, PBS, etc) can be added to the wells (3 per slide).
Storage: store and re-use indefinitely at room temperature.
For optimal RI calibration, we recommend ordering 2 calibration slides with distinct RI values.
Applications:
AccuRIte can be used as routine RI targets in a variety of imaging modalities (non-exhaustive list):
- Holotomography/Optical diffraction tomography (ODT) (ex: Tomocube, Nanolive)
- Quantitative phase microscopy (QPM)
- Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
- Digital holographic microscopy (DHM)
Additional documents:
Coming soon. Stay tuned!
A punchy Headline
Characterization of NanoLive label-free nanoscope performance using AccuRIte
SEM images showing the structure of AccuRIte's randomly-oriented fibers
The AccuRIte slides come sealed with an air gap, so the fibers are not exposed to any particular immersion medium. If needed, it is possible to remove the top part and add an immersion medium of your choice in the available cavities (up to 3 different media per slide).
These nanofiber-based RI phantoms are excellent for testing QPI performance, especially testing lateral resolution and contrast transfer, validating RI-to-phase forward models or comparing different QPI modalities by evaluating robustness to defocus or system aberrations.
The AccuRIte slides were made by dispersing nanofibers in a controlled manner on top of glass substrates. This particular electrospinning process was perfected at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT) and patented (n°WO 2024/256836 A1). The full patent is available online: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2024256836A1/en?oq=WO2024256836A1
Yes, the AccuRIte slides are sealed and provided in a closed box to protect them from breaking and dust. They can be reused indefinitely as long as they are kept in their protective box and handled carefully.
Right after being produced, each batch of AccuRIte slides gets carefully checked and the precise RI value is measured directly on the fibers using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE-2000 Spectroscopic Ellipsometer) in the central visible range (~550 nm). The precise RI value for each batch is documented and provided alongside the slides, with a precision to 4 decimal places.
Contrary to PS beads, which can indeed be practical tools in certain contexts, these slides were specifically conceived for bioimaging applications. They provide relevant surrogates for live biological samples, thanks to their cell-like features:
They are added with randomly-oriented 400-800 nm nanofibers at their surface that mimick axonal structures found in live cells. In contrary, beads are non-physiological and highly artificial scatterers, which is less realistic for bioimaging applications. Fibers are interesting because they provide cleaner calibration signals with fewer geometry-induced distortions, and on top of that, you never have any aggregation issues !
Some versions with a biological-matching RI of 1.39 are available, closer to many real samples (contrary to beads, which are often made of polystyrene with a RI of ~1.59, which is optically much denser than most samples of interest). Calibration performed near the operating RI range of real samples reduces systematic errors and improves sensitivity extrapolation.
AccuRIte is based on a technology patented by Komal Agarwal, Krishna Agarwal and Biswajoy Ghosh (Universitetet i Tromsø - Norges Arktiske Universitet, Tromsø, Norway), n°WO 2024/256836 A1. The full patent is available online: https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2024256836A1/en?oq=WO2024256836A1
