Confocal microscopes have come a long way in the past decade. Not only are they more stable and easier to use than ever before, but their cost has dropped enough that multi-user facilities are finding competition from individual labs using the new breed of "personal" confocals. In fact it has, in some cases, become the de facto standard for fluorescence imaging regardless of whether the user actually has requirements for it or not.

But, researchers always have an ear out for something better. Enter 2-photon microscopy (2PLSM). The “bigger & badder” cousin of the confocal microscope has become a new weapon in the arsenal of a microscopy industry that caters to researchers who can't wait to fill their labs with the latest and greatest imaging systems. Advertised by the industry and researchers alike as a technique that seems to solve most of the problems that plague confocal, “2-photon” has become the new buzzword in the vocabulary of researchers eager to enhance their fluorescence applications.