One Filter to Rule Them All: Linear Variable Filters as the Key Enabling Component for Next-Generation Bioanalytical Instruments

What if only two optical components could replace an entire filter wheel, serve as a monochromator, and simultaneously enable snapshot hyperspectral imaging? This presentation makes the case that Continuously Variable / Linear Variable Filters (CVF/LVF) are exactly that component — and that their combination with modern LED sources and area-scan detectors is fundamentally changing how fluorescence and spectral imaging instruments are designed.

Starting from the basics of fluorescence instrument configurations and the evolution from manual filter exchange to motorized wheels and scanning monochromators, the talk builds toward modern no-moving-parts architectures using multi-bandpass interference filters. It then extends into hyperspectral imaging: how CVF-equipped cameras — in pushbroom, 3D, and snapshot light-field configurations — deliver filter-like transmission and blocking performance in a fraction of the footprint of dispersive spectrometers.

Measured data from field-deployed systems, validated against ASTER and MODTRAN reference spectra, illustrate the achievable spectral accuracy. New LVF developments extending coverage from 380 to 1700 nm with higher dispersion and near-100% transmission point toward the next wave of instrument miniaturization.

About the presenter
Oliver Pust, Ph.D., has a background as a mechanical engineer. He earned his doctoral degree within the field of laser optical fluid measurement techniques. He has long-term experience working with international partners and in sales of high-tech equipment to research and industry customers.

Pust has been working for more than ten years at Delta Optical Thin Film A/S, where he is sales director for Europe, Israel and South America. Prior to that he worked amongst others for OEM spectrometer manufacturer Ibsen Photonics A/S as senior sales development manager and head of sales leading the OEM multi-gas sensing business for m-u-t GmbH.

Pust enjoys sharing his extensive knowledge and experience in workshops, customer visits, exhibitions, and webinars. He takes great interest in his customers' applications and helps them to design innovative analytical instruments and fluorescence systems by providing world class optical thin film filters.