Science Lab

Learn. Share. Contribute. The knowledge portal of Leica Microsystems. Find scientific research and teaching material on the subject of microscopy. The portal supports beginners, experienced practitioners and scientists alike in their everyday work and experiments. Explore interactive tutorials and application notes, discover the basics of microscopy as well as high-end technologies. Become part of the Science Lab community and share your expertise.

Spherulitic crystals of hippuric acid, which were imaged with a Leica microscope using crossed polarizers, showing so-called Maltese crosses.

A Guide to Polarized Light Microscopy

Polarized light microscopy (POL) enhances contrast in birefringent materials and is used in geology, biology, and materials science to study minerals, crystals, fibers, and plant cell walls.

Image of magnetic steel taken with a 100x objective using Kerr microscopy. The magnetic domains in the grains appear in the image with lighter and darker patterns. A few domains are marked with red arrows. Courtesy of Florian Lang-Melzian, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany.

Rapidly Visualizing Magnetic Domains in Steel with Kerr Microscopy

The rotation of polarized light after interaction with magnetic domains in a material, known as the Kerr effect, enables the investigation of magnetized samples with Kerr microscopy. It allows rapid…

Material sample with a large height, size, and weight being observed with an inverted microscope.

Five Inverted-Microscope Advantages for Industrial Applications

With inverted microscopes, you look at samples from below since their optics are placed under the sample, with upright microscopes you look at samples from above. Traditionally, inverted microscopes…

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) stained with osmium tetroxide (OsO4), sectioned with a DIATOME diamond knife at room temperature, and then imaged with HAADF TEM.

Ultramicrotomy Techniques for Materials Sectioning

Learn about ultramicrotomy for materials sectioning when investigating polymers and brittle materials with transmission (TEM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or atomic force microscopy.

How to Prepare and Analyse Battery Samples with Electron Microscopy

This workshop covers the sample preparation process for lithium and novel battery sample analysis, as well as other semiconductor samples requiring high-resolution cross-section imaging.

Top Issues Related to Standards for Rating Non-Metallic Inclusions in Steel

Supplying components and products made of steel to users worldwide can require that a single batch be compliant with multiple steel quality standards. This user demand creates significant challenges…

Analyzing Non-metallic Inclusions in Steel

Oftentimes we find ourselves caught up in tedious analyses by reticle and comparison chart, time-consuming double-evaluation according to several standards or subjective inspection results with a bias…

Rate the Quality of Your Steel: Free Webinar and Report

This webinar and report describe optimal microscopy solutions for rating steel quality in terms of non-metallic inclusions and reviews the various international and regional standards concerning…

Radially grown sugar crystals which have been imaged with a Leica microscope using circular polarized light.

Polarizing Microscope Image Gallery

Polarized light microscopy (also known as polarizing microscopy) is an important method used in different fields, including research and quality assurance. It goes beyond just producing images at high…