The MiniXL is the second generation of the MiniLFOV, a large field-of-view miniature microscope for imaging neuronal activity in freely moving mice and larger animals. It supports deep brain imaging using implanted optical probes and cortical imaging through cranial windows.
- 3.5 mm field of view
- ~3 um resolution
- 1.9 mm working distance
- +/-200 um electronic focal adjustment
- Modular, achromatic optics
- 3.5 grams
- 30 mm tall
- Absolute head orientation sensor
- Single coaxial cable (down to 0.3 mm diameter) for power, communication, and data
- No soldering required
pcb/ PCB designs (KiCad)
rigid-flex/ Main rigid-flex PCB assembly
fabrication/ Gerber and drill files for manufacturing
optics/ Optical design (Zemax) source files
plots/ Standardized output plots (MTF, spot diagrams, etc.)
housing/ 3D printed microscope body
baseplate/ Head-mount baseplate
holder/ Bench alignment holder
assets/ Images and resources for documentation
metadata.yml Project metadata (synced to miniscope.org wiki on release)
If you use the MiniXL in your research, please cite:
Zhao, P., Guo, C., Xie, M., Chen, L., Golshani, P., & Aharoni, D. MiniXL: An open-source, large field-of-view epifluorescence miniscope enabling single-cell resolution and multi-region imaging in mice. Science Advances, 11(24), eads4995, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads4995
A BibTeX entry is available in CITATION.bib.
See LICENSE for details.