Cell ablation: Anyone using an alternative method?

Hi all,

We have a standard nitrogen laser VSL-337ND-S. It is time to exchange the plasma cartridge again.
We started to search for alternatives and are looking for a solution with lower or less expensive maintanace needs.

Currently we collected the following suggestions:

  • diode lase modules (e.g. Chromalase II from Blue Sky Research or a laser diode from Nichia)
    pros: small, should work forever, cheaper (about the same price as for a replacement cartridge)
    cons: they do not come in a ‘ready to use’ kit for worm labs/microscopes (are there any adapters for standard microscopes?)

  • using a microscope that already has a laser built in (e.g. two-photon, confocal microscope,…)

The companies selling the laser diodes cannot tell us any (worm) lab using their setup. They also cannot provide us with a demo version for testing.

We wonder, if any lab is already using laser diodes for cell ablation and what their experience is? What is your setup?
Anyone tried to use a two-photon for cell ablation?

Thanks, Andreas