Optics
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Factors to Consider When Selecting a Research Microscope
An optical microscope is often one of the central devices in a life-science research lab. It can be used for various applications which shed light on many scientific questions. Thereby the…Read article
Eyepieces, Objectives and Optical Aberrations
For most microscope applications, there are generally only two sets of optics which are adjusted by the user, namely, the objectives and the eyepieces. Of course, this is assuming that the microscope…Read article
Koehler Illumination: A Brief History and a Practical Set Up in Five Easy Steps
The technique of Koehler Illumination is one of the most important and fundamental techniques in achieving optimum imaging in any given light microscope set-up. Although it should be routinely used as…Read article
Immersion Objectives: Using Oil, Glycerol, or Water to Overcome some of the Limits of Resolution
To examine specimens at high magnifications using the microscope, there are a number of factors which need to be taken into consideration. These include resolution, numerical aperture (NA), the…Read article
Collecting Light: The Importance of Numerical Aperture in Microscopy
Numerical aperture (abbreviated as ‘NA’) is an important consideration when trying to distinguish detail in a specimen viewed down the microscope. NA is a number without units and is related to the…Read article
Optimization of the Interplay of Optical Components for Aberration free Microscopy
Optical microscopes are used to magnify objects which are otherwise invisible for the human eye. For this purpose high quality optics is necessary to achieve appropriate resolution. However, besides…Read article
Video Talk by Kurt Thorn: The Abbe Diffraction Experiment
This lecture describes the famous experiments of Ernst Abbe which showed how diffraction of light by a specimen (and interference with the illuminating light) gives rise to an image and how collection…Read article
Microscope Resolution: Concepts, Factors and Calculation
In microscopy, the term ‘resolution’ is used to describe the ability of a microscope to distinguish detail. In other words, this is the minimum distance at which two distinct points of a specimen can…Read article
Infinity Optical Systems
“Infinity Optics” refers to the concept of a beam path with parallel rays between the objective and the tube lens of a microscope. Flat optical components can be brought into this “Infinity Space”…Read article
Video: Fluorescence is a State of Mind
How to break a fundamental law of physics and win a Nobel Prize to boot. Stefan Hell explains super-resolved fluorescence microscopy for which he shared the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry.Read article
What do you Call a Drosophila who Likes to Drink? A Bar Fly!
The thought of a Drosophoila headed to the local bar for a drink creates a funny joke, but after long hours of sorting flies under a microscope that causes eyestrain or neck pain, you may be the one…Read article
A Brief History of Light Microscopy – From the Medieval Reading Stone to Super-Resolution
The history of microscopy begins in the Middle Ages. As far back as the 11th century, plano-convex lenses made of polished beryl were used in the Arab world as reading stones to magnify manuscripts.…Read article
Video Talk by Joseph Gall: Early History of Microscopy
Joseph Gall takes us through the history of early microscopes and the discovery of the cell. Compound microscopes were invented alongside the telescope in the 17th century; however these microscopes…Read article
Encoding and Decoding Spatio-Temporal Information for Super-Resolution Microscopy
The challenge of increasing the spatial resolution of an optical microscope beyond the diffraction limit can be reduced to a spectroscopy task by proper manipulation of the molecular states. The…Read article
Video Talk by Jeff Lichtman: Resolution in Microscopy – Wave Optics and the Diffraction Limit
Light has properties of particles and waves. Understanding the wave nature of light is essential to understanding the workings of a microscope. This lecture describes Huygens Wavelets,…Read article
Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy: Beyond the Flatlands
Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LISH-M) is a true fluorescence optical sectioning technique, first described by Heinrich Siedentopf in 1902 under the name of Ultramicroscopy. Light sheet…Read article
How to Clean Microscope Optics
Clean microscope optics are essential for obtaining good microscope images. If they are dirty, the microscope should be cleaned to avoid a loss of quality. If you decide to do this yourself, you…Read article
Optical Microscopes – Some Basics
The optical microscope has been a standard tool in life science as well as material science for more than one and a half centuries now. To use this tool economically and effectively, it helps a lot to…Read article