ISS Inc

ISS Inc ISS develops the finest fluorescence & biomedical instruments for research & clinical applications.

Applying for a grant? ISS can help you make the case.Materials research instrumentation grants are highly competitive. R...
06/17/2026

Applying for a grant? ISS can help you make the case.

Materials research instrumentation grants are highly competitive. Reviewers want to see that your requested instrument is the right tool, with the right scientific track record, to advance your proposed research and serve your broader user community.

ISS is uniquely positioned to support your grant application.

What ISS brings to your grant package:

✅ Complete instrument specifications: technical descriptions for the equipment section
✅ Formal, itemized quotes: appropriate for NSF MRI, NIH Shared Instrumentation, and DOE equipment grant budget justifications
✅ Letters of support from ISS: demonstrating manufacturer commitment to training, installation, calibration, and service
✅ Published citation record: the PL1, ChronosDFD, and ChronosBH are cited in JACS, Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie, ACS Nano, Energy & Environmental Science, and more; reviewers can independently verify scientific utility
✅ Versatility argument: each instrument supports materials science, physical chemistry, biophysics, and pharmaceutical research; one instrument serves multiple P*s, strengthening multi-user grant justifications
✅ Pre-submission consultation: our team has experience helping research groups articulate instrument need, alternative approaches, and broader impact

ISS can help with the following funding mechanisms:

▶ NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI): Division of Materials Research & Division of Chemistry
▶ DOE Basic Energy Sciences (BES): experimental tools for fundamental materials research
▶ DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO): perovskite, nanocrystal, and thin-film photovoltaic research
▶ NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG): for labs at the materials-biology interface
▶ AFOSR and ARO equipment grants: photonics, quantum materials, and energy conversion

You bring the science. We'll help you build the compelling case for the tools.

📩 Contact us before your deadline: https://iss.com/contact

Why choose ISS instruments for your materials research?Solve sensitivity & scale problems with PL1's large-area FLIM.htt...
06/16/2026

Why choose ISS instruments for your materials research?

Solve sensitivity & scale problems with PL1's large-area FLIM.
https://iss.com/fluorescence/time-resolved-laser-scanning-confocal-microscopes/pl1

Beat time constraints with ChronosDFD's sub-second measurements.
https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosdfd

Gain deep mechanistic insights with ChronosBH's TCSPC detail.
https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosbh

All powered by intuitive software and proven in high-impact publications on perovskites, upconversion nanoparticles, solar cells, and optical materials.

Whether you're advancing energy materials, photonics, or nanomaterials, these tools deliver reliable, publication-quality data.

Bonus: Our team can help you with grant applications in regards to the instrument, demos, and customized configurations for all your research needs.

Ready to elevate your research? Comment below or contact us today at https://iss.com/contact



Tag a materials scientist!⤵️

When you need the most direct, unambiguous fluorescence lifetime measurement there's one method: time-domain TCSPC.Mater...
06/15/2026

When you need the most direct, unambiguous fluorescence lifetime measurement there's one method: time-domain TCSPC.

Materials researchers studying complex luminescent systems face a fundamental challenge: your material's emission is rarely a single exponential. Competing pathways like radiative recombination, non-radiative trap states, charge transfer, intersystem crossing, and delayed fluorescence all superimpose in the decay profile.

Disentangling them requires high temporal resolution, wide lifetime dynamic range, and flexible excitation.

The ISS ChronosBH TCSPC Lifetime Spectrometer is built for exactly this.

ChronosBH specifications for materials research:

✅ Lifetime range: 10 ps to 100 seconds: ultrafast OLED dynamics through long-lived phosphorescence and afterglow, one instrument
✅ 1 ps minimum time bin width, 34 ps RMS timing jitter: exceptional precision for resolving closely spaced decay components
✅ Wavelength coverage: 185–1700 nm (detector dependent): UV-absorbing organic semiconductors to NIR rare-earth nanocrystals
✅ T-format geometry with simultaneous two-channel acquisition
✅ Compatible pulsed sources: laser diodes (370–830 nm), LEDs (280–520 nm), supercontinuum, Ti:Sapphire, multiphoton
✅ Time-domain: the most direct method: no reference sample needed beyond the instrument response function (IRF)
✅ TCSPC count rate: up to 8.5 MHz: high dynamic range for accurate multi-exponential deconvolution
✅ Vinci software: multi-exponential fitting, distribution analysis, stretched-exponential models, custom chi² minimization
✅ Upgradeable to steady-state measurements with a xenon arc lamp

Published materials science applications: https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosbh -science

Find out more here: https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosbh

Need fluorescence lifetime data in under a second?Materials characterization workflows don't slow down for slow instrume...
06/12/2026

Need fluorescence lifetime data in under a second?

Materials characterization workflows don't slow down for slow instruments. When you're screening synthesis conditions across a nanoparticle series, comparing OLED emitter candidates, or studying the kinetics of luminescent probes speed isn't a luxury. It's a scientific requirement.

The ISS ChronosDFD is a high-performance digital frequency-domain (DFD) spectrofluorometer built for exactly this.

The ChronosDFD advantage for materials scientists:
✅ Lifetime measurements in under 1 second for routine samples: true high-throughput characterization
✅ Lifetime range: 1 ps to 1 second: fast charge-transfer dynamics and slow phosphorescence, one instrument
✅ Up to 80 million photon counts per second with hybrid PMT detectors: exceptional SNR for weakly emitting materials
✅ T-format optical geometry: simultaneous dual-channel acquisition for maximum accuracy
✅ Single-step anisotropy decay measurements (rotational correlation times): no separate polarizer sweeps; critical for molecular dynamics in thin films and soft matter
✅ Frequency-domain: the method of choice for real-time measurements, with millisecond-scale sampling rates
✅ Superior resolution of short-lifetime contributions in complex decay systems: critical for charge-transfer emitters
✅ Excitation: laser diodes (370–830 nm), LEDs (280–520 nm), supercontinuum, Ti:Sapphire, multiphoton lasers
✅ Wavelength range: 200–1700 nm (detector dependent)
✅ Fully automated with Vinci software: custom protocols, cuvette switching, temperature control, titration, stopped-flow

Why frequency-domain?
The DFD method calculates lifetime from phase angle and modulation, directly and rapidly measurable parameters. It's faster and less artifact-prone for many applications, and resolves short-lifetime components particularly well. For lifetime-based sensing and real-time monitoring where millisecond sampling is needed, frequency-domain is the superior choice.

Published materials science applications: https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosdfd -science

📩 https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosdfd

Perovskite researchers: how are you mapping your trap-state heterogeneity?You've synthesized a promising perovskite laye...
06/09/2026

Perovskite researchers: how are you mapping your trap-state heterogeneity?

You've synthesized a promising perovskite layer. Your bulk efficiency metrics look encouraging. But your device is still underperforming and you suspect localized trap states or grain boundary defects are the culprit.

The problem? Conventional photoluminescence intensity imaging doesn't tell you where the recombination is happening, how fast it is, or how spatially heterogeneous the lifetime landscape is.

That's exactly what the ISS PL1 Material Sciences Confocal Workstation was designed for.

The PL1 delivers high-resolution FLIM (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) across sample areas up to 100 mm × 100 mm. Large enough to characterize real device-scale perovskite films.

What the PL1 gives you:

✅ Lifetime range of 100 ps to 100 ms: captures ultrafast non-radiative recombination and slow trap emission in a single scan
✅ Excitation from 375 nm to 980 nm: match your material's absorption profile; multiphoton excitation also supported
✅ FastFLIM technology: rapid, high-fidelity photon counting for large-area scans without sacrificing temporal resolution
✅ Phasor plot analysis in VistaVision: identify multiple lifetime species instantly, no multi-exponential fitting required
✅ XY stage with 22 nm resolution at up to 7 mm/s: fast scanning of large samples with nanoscale precision
✅ Optional SpectralFLIM 16-PMT array: simultaneous spectral and lifetime imaging

Publications with the ISS PL1: https://iss.com/fluorescence/time-resolved-laser-scanning-confocal-microscopes/pl1

If you're working on perovskite solar cells, LEDs, or photodetectors the PL1 is the spatial lifetime mapping tool your characterization suite is missing.

📩 Contact us here for a quote: https://iss.com/contact?product=pl1

Are your materials hiding something from you?Every material has a story locked in light...fluorescence lifetimes, energy...
06/08/2026

Are your materials hiding something from you?

Every material has a story locked in light...fluorescence lifetimes, energy transfer rates, charge carrier dynamics. The question is: do you have the right instrument to read it?

At ISS, we've spent decades building precision time-resolved photonic instruments for researchers who demand more from their data. And increasingly, materials scientists are discovering what biophysicists have known for years: time-resolved fluorescence is one of the most powerful windows into material behavior.

Whether you're:

▶ Characterizing perovskite solar cells and mapping trap-state defects across device-scale films
▶ Investigating quantum dot emission dynamics and separating size-distribution lifetime populations
▶ Studying upconversion nanoparticles for energy applications
▶ Engineering OLED emitters with optimized charge-transfer lifetimes
▶ Probing luminescent metal-organic frameworks and host-guest energy transfer
▶ Monitoring persistent phosphorescence and room-temperature emission in organic materials
..ISS has an instrument that fits your workflow.

Three instruments. Unlimited discovery.

🔷 PL1 Material Sciences Confocal Workstation: FLIM across samples up to 100×100 mm, 22 nm resolution, 100 ps to 100 ms lifetime range
https://iss.com/fluorescence/time-resolved-laser-scanning-confocal-microscopes/pl1
🔷 ChronosDFD Spectrofluorometer: Digital frequency-domain, lifetime results in under 1 second, up to 80M counts/sec
https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosdfd
🔷 ChronosBH Spectrofluorometer: TCSPC, 10 ps to 100 seconds, 1 ps time bins, 185–1700 nm wavelength coverage
https://iss.com/fluorescence/spectrofluorometers/chronosbh

Our instruments are published in JACS, Advanced Materials, ACS Nano, Energy & Environmental Science, and dozens of other top-tier journals.

Contact us at https://iss.com/contact to start the conversation.

Perovskite performance is often determined by what you can't see.📩 Interested in fluorescence lifetime, photoluminescenc...
06/05/2026

Perovskite performance is often determined by what you can't see.

📩 Interested in fluorescence lifetime, photoluminescence lifetime imaging (PLIM), phasor analysis, anisotropy, and time-resolved spectroscopy as they relate to semiconductors, perovskites, photovoltaics, quantum dots, nanomaterials, phosphors, upconversion materials, 2D materials, and/or energy devices? Let's talk, reach out here: https://iss.com/contact

Local defects, trap states, and carrier recombination pathways can dramatically impact solar cell efficiency and long-term stability.

The ISS PL1 enables high-resolution photoluminescence lifetime imaging (PLIM) of perovskite materials, helping researchers identify spatial variations in lifetime that correlate with material quality and device performance.

Find out more about PL1 here: https://iss.com/fluorescence/time-resolved-laser-scanning-confocal-microscopes/pl1

Using ISS VistaVision software and model-free phasor analysis, lifetime differences can be visualized directly from raw data without complex fitting routines.

When every nanosecond matters, lifetime imaging provides insights that intensity measurements alone cannot.

Discover why leading perovskite researchers use ISS technology to investigate carrier dynamics and defect engineering.

Your photoluminescence intensity image may be hiding the most important information.Two materials can produce nearly ide...
06/04/2026

Your photoluminescence intensity image may be hiding the most important information.

Two materials can produce nearly identical PL intensity while exhibiting dramatically different excited-state dynamics, carrier lifetimes, and defect populations.

By measuring fluorescence and photoluminescence lifetimes, researchers can uncover:

✓ Trap states and defect distributions
✓ Carrier recombination pathways
✓ Exciton dynamics
✓ Material heterogeneity
✓ Device degradation mechanisms

The ISS PL1 Material Sciences Confocal Workstation combines high-resolution photoluminescence imaging with lifetime measurements from 100 ps to 100 ms, allowing researchers to visualize both intensity and lifetime variations across their samples.

Because understanding how long an excited state survives is often just as important as knowing how bright it is.

Find out more here: https://iss.com/fluorescence/time-resolved-laser-scanning-confocal-microscopes/pl1

Focus and DiscoverAt ISS, these three words represent more than a tagline they represent a philosophy of scientific disc...
06/03/2026

Focus and Discover

At ISS, these three words represent more than a tagline they represent a philosophy of scientific discovery.

Focus on the details that matter. Find out more here: https://iss.com/

Discover the information hidden beyond intensity images.

For more than 40 years, ISS has developed advanced fluorescence instrumentation that helps researchers move beyond simply visualizing biological structures to quantitatively understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive them.

From high-performance confocal imaging and super-resolution microscopy to FLIM, FFS, FRET, phasor analysis, and single-molecule measurements, ISS technologies are designed to reveal information that conventional imaging often cannot.

🔹 Focus on cellular structure.
🔹 Discover molecular interactions.

🔹 Focus on fluorescence intensity.
🔹 Discover lifetime signatures, diffusion dynamics, and protein organization.

🔹 Focus on an image.
🔹 Discover the quantitative biology behind it.

Whether you're studying protein interactions, cellular metabolism, molecular diffusion, phase separation, super-resolution imaging, or fluorescence lifetime dynamics, ISS provides the tools to transform photons into meaningful scientific insight.

Because great microscopy doesn't just help you see your sample.

It helps you understand it.

ISS...Focus and Discover!

The data shown here demonstrates Photon Counting Histogram (PCH) analysis of cohesin complexes in live yeast cells, reve...
06/02/2026

The data shown here demonstrates Photon Counting Histogram (PCH) analysis of cohesin complexes in live yeast cells, revealing important insights into protein stoichiometry throughout the cell cycle.

Using GFP monomer and GFP dimer constructs as molecular brightness standards, researchers were able to compare the brightness of SCC1-GFP and determine its oligomeric state in living cells. The results showed that cohesin predominantly exists in a monomeric form, while also enabling investigation of how regulatory proteins such as Wpl1, Pds5, and Eco1 influence cohesin organization and function.

📩 Interested in protein stoichiometry, oligomerization studies, or advanced fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy? Let's talk, reach out here: https://iss.com/contact

🧪 What is Photon Counting Histogram (PCH) Analysis?

PCH is a powerful extension of Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy (FFS) that analyzes the statistical distribution of detected photons over time.

Rather than focusing solely on molecular diffusion, PCH quantifies:

✔️ Molecular brightness
✔️ Oligomeric state
✔️ Protein stoichiometry
✔️ Molecular heterogeneity
✔️ Population distributions within living cells

Because molecular brightness scales with the number of fluorescent molecules moving together, PCH can distinguish between monomers, dimers, and larger molecular assemblies.

PCH analysis is particularly valuable for studying:

• Protein-protein interactions
• Oligomerization and aggregation
• Transcription factor assembly
• Receptor clustering
• Chromatin-associated complexes
• Cell-cycle dependent molecular organization

For researchers investigating how molecular complexes assemble and function inside living cells, PCH provides quantitative evidence that goes beyond localization alone.

PCH is integrated into the broader ISS FFS platform, which includes:

✔️ FCS
✔️ FCCS
✔️ FLCS
✔️ Scanning FCS
✔️ RICS
✔️ Number & Brightness (N&B)

Available across ISS confocal microscopy platforms.

💬 Bottom line:

PCH transforms fluorescence fluctuations into quantitative measurements of molecular brightness and oligomeric state, helping researchers determine not just where proteins are—but how they assemble and function inside living cells.

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