The confocal system is comprised of three lasers, a scanhead, three detectors and a computer which controls all aspects of image acquisition. The actual imaging takes place using a Nikon E800 microscope.

There is a laser power unit for the argon (blue), the green HeNe and the red HeNe.

The lasers are contained within the box shown at right. Output of the lasers are controlled by both band pass filters (define) and neutral density filters (define). The neutral density filters control the output intensity, and have stops for 100 (all the way up), 10, 3 and 1% (all the way down) transmittance. The laser filters are bandpass filters, and determine which excitation wavelength is emitted by the laser (down position). When the filter holder is pulled up one stop, a shutter blocks the light output. If it is pulled up one more stop, laser output is unrestricted.

The excitation light from the lasers travels via fiber optics to the scanhead, where scanning of the laser beam and collection of the signal from the specimen occurs.