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A microscope () is a
laboratory instrument A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...
used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye.
Microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope. There are many types of microscopes, and they may be grouped in different ways. One way is to describe the method an instrument uses to interact with a sample and produce images, either by sending a beam of light or electrons through a sample in its optical path, by detecting photon emissions from a sample, or by scanning across and a short distance from the surface of a sample using a probe. The most common microscope (and the first to be invented) is the optical microscope, which uses lenses to refract visible light that passed through a thinly sectioned sample to produce an observable image. Other major types of microscopes are the fluorescence microscope, electron microscope (both the transmission electron microscope and the scanning electron microscope) and various types of scanning probe microscopes.


History

Although objects resembling lenses date back 4,000 years and there are Greek accounts of the optical properties of water-filled spheres (5th century BC) followed by many centuries of writings on optics, the earliest known use of simple microscopes (
magnifying glass A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle. A magnifying glass can be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the sun's radiation to crea ...
es) dates back to the widespread use of lenses in eyeglasses in the 13th century. The earliest known examples of compound microscopes, which combine an objective lens near the specimen with an eyepiece to view a
real image {{citations needed, date=June 2019 In optics, an ''image'' is defined as the collection of focus points of light rays coming from an object. A real image is the collection of focus points actually made by converging/diverging rays, while a v ...
, appeared in Europe around 1620. The inventor is unknown, even though many claims have been made over the years. Several revolve around the spectacle-making centers in the Netherlands, including claims it was invented in 1590 by Zacharias Janssen (claim made by his son) or Zacharias' father, Hans Martens, or both, claims it was invented by their neighbor and rival spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey (who applied for the first telescope patent in 1608), and claims it was invented by expatriate
Cornelis Drebbel Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel ( ) (1572 – 7 November 1633) was a Dutch engineer and inventor. He was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620 and an innovator who contributed to the development of measurement and control systems, op ...
, who was noted to have a version in London in 1619. Galileo Galilei (also sometimes cited as compound microscope inventor) seems to have found after 1610 that he could close focus his telescope to view small objects and, after seeing a compound microscope built by Drebbel exhibited in Rome in 1624, built his own improved version.
Giovanni Faber Giovanni Faber (or Johann Faber, sometimes also known as Fabri or Fabro) (1574–1629) was a German papal doctor, botanist and art collector, originally from Bamberg in Bavaria, who lived in Rome from 1598. He was curator of the Vatican botanica ...
coined the name ''microscope'' for the compound microscope Galileo submitted to the
Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...
in 1625 (Galileo had called it the ''occhiolino'' 'little eye'). René Descartes (''Dioptrique'', 1637) describes microscopes wherein a concave mirror, with its concavity towards the object, is used, in conjunction with a lens, for illuminating the object, which is mounted on a point fixing it at the focus of the mirror.


Rise of modern light microscopes

The first detailed account of the
microscopic anatomy Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
of organic tissue based on the use of a microscope did not appear until 1644, in Giambattista Odierna's ''L'occhio della mosca'', or ''The Fly's Eye''. The microscope was still largely a novelty until the 1660s and 1670s when naturalists in Italy, the Netherlands and England began using them to study biology. Italian scientist Marcello Malpighi, called the father of histology by some historians of biology, began his analysis of biological structures with the lungs. The publication in 1665 of
Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
's '' Micrographia'' had a huge impact, largely because of its impressive illustrations. Hooke created tiny lenses of small glass globules made by fusing the ends of threads of spun glass. A significant contribution came from
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the ...
who achieved up to 300 times magnification using a simple single lens microscope. He sandwiched a very small glass
ball lens A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used ...
between the holes in two metal plates riveted together, and with an adjustable-by-screws needle attached to mount the specimen. Then, Van Leeuwenhoek re-discovered red blood cells (after
Jan Swammerdam Jan Swammerdam (February 12, 1637 – February 17, 1680) was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the ...
) and spermatozoa, and helped popularise the use of microscopes to view biological ultrastructure. On 9 October 1676, van Leeuwenhoek reported the discovery of micro-organisms. The performance of a compound light microscope depends on the quality and correct use of the condensor lens system to focus light on the specimen and the objective lens to capture the light from the specimen and form an image. Early instruments were limited until this principle was fully appreciated and developed from the late 19th to very early 20th century, and until electric lamps were available as light sources. In 1893 August Köhler developed a key principle of sample illumination,
Köhler illumination Köhler illumination is a method of specimen illumination used for transmitted and reflected light (trans- and epi-illuminated) optical microscopy. Köhler illumination acts to generate an even illumination of the sample and ensures that an image o ...
, which is central to achieving the theoretical limits of resolution for the light microscope. This method of sample illumination produces even lighting and overcomes the limited contrast and resolution imposed by early techniques of sample illumination. Further developments in sample illumination came from the discovery of phase contrast by Frits Zernike in 1953, and
differential interference contrast Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy, also known as Nomarski interference contrast (NIC) or Nomarski microscopy, is an optical microscopy technique used to enhance the contrast (vision), contrast in unstained, transparent Sample (ma ...
illumination by Georges Nomarski in 1955; both of which allow imaging of unstained, transparent samples.


Electron microscopes

In the early 20th century a significant alternative to the light microscope was developed, an instrument that uses a beam of electrons rather than light to generate an image. The German physicist,
Ernst Ruska Ernst August Friedrich Ruska (; 25 December 1906 – 27 May 1988) was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in electron optics, including the design of the first electron microscope. Life and career Erns ...
, working with electrical engineer Max Knoll, developed the first prototype electron microscope in 1931, a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The transmission electron microscope works on similar principles to an optical microscope but uses electrons in the place of light and electromagnets in the place of glass lenses. Use of electrons, instead of light, allows for much higher resolution. Development of the transmission electron microscope was quickly followed in 1935 by the development of the scanning electron microscope by Max Knoll. Although TEMs were being used for research before WWII, and became popular afterwards, the SEM was not commercially available until 1965. Transmission electron microscopes became popular following the Second World War. Ernst Ruska, working at
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
, developed the first commercial transmission electron microscope and, in the 1950s, major scientific conferences on electron microscopy started being held. In 1965, the first commercial scanning electron microscope was developed by Professor Sir
Charles Oatley Sir Charles William Oatley OBE, FRS FREng (14 February 1904 – 11 March 1996) was Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Cambridge, 1960–1971, and developer of one of the first commercial scanning electron microscopes. He was ...
and his postgraduate student Gary Stewart, and marketed by the
Cambridge Instrument Company Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company was a company founded in the late 1870s by Robert Fulcher. The original use of the company was to service instruments for the Cambridge physiology department. In the beginning, the company was financially dri ...
as the "Stereoscan". One of the latest discoveries made about using an electron microscope is the ability to identify a virus. Since this microscope produces a visible, clear image of small organelles, in an electron microscope there is no need for reagents to see the virus or harmful cells, resulting in a more efficient way to detect pathogens.


Scanning probe microscopes

From 1981 to 1983
Gerd Binnig Gerd Binnig (; born 20 July 1947) is a German physicist. He is most famous for having won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Heinrich Rohrer in 1986 for the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope. Early life and education Binnig wa ...
and
Heinrich Rohrer Heinrich Rohrer (6 June 1933 – 16 May 2013) was a Swiss physicist who shared half of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gerd Binnig for the design of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The other half of the Prize was awarded to Ernst R ...
worked at IBM in Zurich,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
to study the
quantum tunnelling Quantum tunnelling, also known as tunneling ( US) is a quantum mechanical phenomenon whereby a wavefunction can propagate through a potential barrier. The transmission through the barrier can be finite and depends exponentially on the barrier h ...
phenomenon. They created a practical instrument, a scanning probe microscope from quantum tunnelling theory, that read very small forces exchanged between a probe and the surface of a sample. The probe approaches the surface so closely that electrons can flow continuously between probe and sample, making a current from surface to probe. The microscope was not initially well received due to the complex nature of the underlying theoretical explanations. In 1984
Jerry Tersoff Jerry Tersoff is a Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. His work spans diverse topics in the theoretical understanding of surfaces, interfaces, electronic materials, epitaxial growth, and nanoscale devices. Throughout ...
and D.R. Hamann, while at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey began publishing articles that tied theory to the experimental results obtained by the instrument. This was closely followed in 1985 with functioning commercial instruments, and in 1986 with Gerd Binnig, Quate, and Gerber's invention of the
atomic force microscope Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the diffr ...
, then Binnig's and Rohrer's Nobel Prize in Physics for the SPM. New types of scanning probe microscope have continued to be developed as the ability to machine ultra-fine probes and tips has advanced.


Fluorescence microscopes

The most recent developments in light microscope largely centre on the rise of fluorescence microscopy in biology. During the last decades of the 20th century, particularly in the post-
genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...
era, many techniques for fluorescent
staining Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissues), in cytology (microscopic study of cells), and in the ...
of
cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...
structures were developed. The main groups of techniques involve targeted chemical staining of particular cell structures, for example, the chemical compound DAPI to label DNA, use of antibodies conjugated to fluorescent reporters, see
immunofluorescence Immunofluorescence is a technique used for light microscopy with a fluorescence microscope and is used primarily on microbiological samples. This technique uses the specificity of antibodies to their antigen to target fluorescent dyes to specif ...
, and fluorescent proteins, such as
green fluorescent protein The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to light in the blue to ultraviolet range. The label ''GFP'' traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the jellyfish ''Aequorea ...
. These techniques use these different fluorophores for analysis of cell structure at a molecular level in both live and fixed samples. The rise of fluorescence microscopy drove the development of a major modern microscope design, the confocal microscope. The principle was patented in 1957 by Marvin Minsky, although laser technology limited practical application of the technique. It was not until 1978 when Thomas and
Christoph Cremer Christoph Cremer (born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) is a German physicist and emeritus at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, former honorary professor at the University of Mainz and was a former group leader at Institute of Molecular Bi ...
developed the first practical
confocal laser scanning microscope Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser confocal scanning microscopy (LCSM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a sp ...
and the technique rapidly gained popularity through the 1980s.


Super resolution microscopes

Much current research (in the early 21st century) on optical microscope techniques is focused on development of
superresolution Super-resolution imaging (SR) is a class of techniques that enhance (increase) the resolution of an imaging system. In optical SR the diffraction limit of systems is transcended, while in geometrical SR the resolution of digital imaging sensors ...
analysis of fluorescently labelled samples.
Structured illumination A structured light pattern designed for surface inspection An Automatix Seamtracker arc welding robot equipped with a camera and structured laser light source, enabling the robot to follow a welding seam automatically Structured light is the p ...
can improve resolution by around two to four times and techniques like stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy are approaching the resolution of electron microscopes. This occurs because the diffraction limit is occurred from light or excitation, which makes the resolution must be doubled to become super saturated. Stefan Hell was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the STED technique, along with Eric Betzig and William Moerner who adapted fluorescence microscopy for single-molecule visualization.


X-ray microscopes

X-ray microscopes are instruments that use electromagnetic radiation usually in the soft X-ray band to image objects. Technological advances in X-ray lens optics in the early 1970s made the instrument a viable imaging choice. They are often used in tomography (see micro-computed tomography) to produce three dimensional images of objects, including biological materials that have not been chemically fixed. Currently research is being done to improve optics for hard X-rays which have greater penetrating power.


Types

Microscopes can be separated into several different classes. One grouping is based on what interacts with the sample to generate the image, i.e., light or
photons A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they alway ...
(optical microscopes), electrons (electron microscopes) or a probe (scanning probe microscopes). Alternatively, microscopes can be classified based on whether they analyze the sample via a scanning point (confocal optical microscopes, scanning electron microscopes and scanning probe microscopes) or analyze the sample all at once (wide field optical microscopes and transmission electron microscopes). Wide field optical microscopes and transmission electron microscopes both use the theory of lenses ( optics for light microscopes and electromagnet lenses for electron microscopes) in order to magnify the image generated by the passage of a wave transmitted through the sample, or reflected by the sample. The waves used are electromagnetic (in optical microscopes) or electron beams (in
electron microscopes An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
).
Resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
in these microscopes is limited by the wavelength of the radiation used to image the sample, where shorter wavelengths allow for a higher resolution. Scanning optical and electron microscopes, like the confocal microscope and scanning electron microscope, use lenses to focus a spot of light or electrons onto the sample then analyze the signals generated by the beam interacting with the sample. The point is then scanned over the sample to analyze a rectangular region. Magnification of the image is achieved by displaying the data from scanning a physically small sample area on a relatively large screen. These microscopes have the same resolution limit as wide field optical, probe, and electron microscopes. Scanning probe microscopes also analyze a single point in the sample and then scan the probe over a rectangular sample region to build up an image. As these microscopes do not use electromagnetic or electron radiation for imaging they are not subject to the same resolution limit as the optical and electron microscopes described above.


Optical microscope

The most common type of microscope (and the first invented) is the optical microscope. This is an optical instrument containing one or more
lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
producing an enlarged image of a sample placed in the focal plane. Optical microscopes have refractive glass (occasionally plastic or quartz), to focus light on the eye or on to another light detector. Mirror-based optical microscopes operate in the same manner. Typical magnification of a light microscope, assuming visible range light, is up to 1,250× with a theoretical resolution limit of around 0.250  micrometres or 250 
nanometre 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale. The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...
s. This limits practical magnification to ~1,500×. Specialized techniques (e.g., scanning confocal microscopy, Vertico SMI) may exceed this magnification but the resolution is
diffraction Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...
limited. The use of shorter wavelengths of light, such as ultraviolet, is one way to improve the spatial resolution of the optical microscope, as are devices such as the
near-field scanning optical microscope Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) or scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is a microscopy technique for nanostructure investigation that breaks the far field resolution limit by exploiting the properties of evanescent waves ...
.
Sarfus Sarfus is an optical quantitative imaging technique based on the association of: *an upright or inverted optical microscope in crossed polarization configuration and *specific supporting plates – called surfs – on which the sample to observe i ...
is a recent optical technique that increases the sensitivity of a standard optical microscope to a point where it is possible to directly visualize nanometric films (down to 0.3 nanometre) and isolated nano-objects (down to 2 nm-diameter). The technique is based on the use of non-reflecting substrates for cross-polarized reflected light microscopy. Ultraviolet light enables the resolution of microscopic features as well as the imaging of samples that are transparent to the eye. Near infrared light can be used to visualize circuitry embedded in bonded silicon devices, since silicon is transparent in this region of wavelengths. In fluorescence microscopy many wavelengths of light ranging from the ultraviolet to the visible can be used to cause samples to fluoresce, which allows viewing by eye or with specifically sensitive cameras. Phase-contrast microscopy is an optical microscopic illumination technique in which small
phase shifts In physics and mathematics, the phase of a periodic function F of some real variable t (such as time) is an angle-like quantity representing the fraction of the cycle covered up to t. It is denoted \phi(t) and expressed in such a scale that it ...
in the light passing through a transparent specimen are converted into amplitude or contrast changes in the image. The use of phase contrast does not require
staining Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissues), in cytology (microscopic study of cells), and in the ...
to view the slide. This microscope technique made it possible to study the cell cycle in live cells. The traditional optical microscope has more recently evolved into the
digital microscope A digital microscope is a variation of a traditional optical microscope that uses optics and a digital camera to output an image to a video monitor, monitor, sometimes by means of software running on a computer. A digital microscope often has it ...
. In addition to, or instead of, directly viewing the object through the eyepieces, a type of sensor similar to those used in a digital camera is used to obtain an image, which is then displayed on a computer monitor. These sensors may use
CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...
or charge-coupled device (CCD) technology, depending on the application. Digital microscopy with very low light levels to avoid damage to vulnerable biological samples is available using sensitive photon-counting digital cameras. It has been demonstrated that a light source providing pairs of entangled photons may minimize the risk of damage to the most light-sensitive samples. In this application of
ghost imaging Ghost imaging (also called "coincidence imaging", "two-photon imaging" or "correlated-photon imaging") is a technique that produces an image of an object by combining information from two light detectors: a conventional, ''multi-pixel'' detecto ...
to photon-sparse microscopy, the sample is illuminated with infrared photons, each of which is spatially correlated with an entangled partner in the visible band for efficient imaging by a photon-counting camera.


Electron microscope

The two major types of electron microscopes are transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) and scanning electron microscopes (SEMs). They both have series of electromagnetic and electrostatic lenses to focus a high energy beam of electrons on a sample. In a TEM the electrons pass through the sample, analogous to basic optical microscopy. This requires careful sample preparation, since electrons are scattered strongly by most materials. The samples must also be very thin (below 100 nm) in order for the electrons to pass through it. Cross-sections of cells stained with osmium and heavy metals reveal clear organelle membranes and proteins such as ribosomes. With a 0.1 nm level of resolution, detailed views of viruses (20 – 300 nm) and a strand of DNA (2 nm in width) can be obtained. In contrast, the SEM has raster coils to scan the surface of bulk objects with a fine electron beam. Therefore, the specimen do not necessarily need to be sectioned, but coating with a nanometric metal or carbon layer may be needed for nonconductive samples. SEM allows fast surface imaging of samples, possibly in thin water vapor to prevent drying.


Scanning probe

The different types of scanning probe microscopes arise from the many different types of interactions that occur when a small probe is scanned over and interacts with a specimen. These interactions or modes can be recorded or mapped as function of location on the surface to form a characterization map. The three most common types of scanning probe microscopes are atomic force microscopes (AFM), near-field scanning optical microscopes (NSOM or SNOM, scanning near-field optical microscopy), and scanning tunneling microscopes (STM). An atomic force microscope has a fine probe, usually of silicon or silicon nitride, attached to a cantilever; the probe is scanned over the surface of the sample, and the forces that cause an interaction between the probe and the surface of the sample are measured and mapped. A near-field scanning optical microscope is similar to an AFM but its probe consists of a light source in an optical fiber covered with a tip that has usually an aperture for the light to pass through. The microscope can capture either transmitted or reflected light to measure very localized optical properties of the surface, commonly of a biological specimen. Scanning tunneling microscopes have a metal tip with a single apical atom; the tip is attached to a tube through which a current flows. The tip is scanned over the surface of a conductive sample until a tunneling current flows; the current is kept constant by computer movement of the tip and an image is formed by the recorded movements of the tip.


Other types

Scanning acoustic microscope A scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) is a device which uses focused sound to investigate, measure, or image an object (a process called scanning acoustic tomography). It is commonly used in failure analysis and non-destructive evaluation. It a ...
s use sound waves to measure variations in acoustic impedance. Similar to Sonar in principle, they are used for such jobs as detecting defects in the subsurfaces of materials including those found in integrated circuits. On February 4, 2013, Australian engineers built a "quantum microscope" which provides unparalleled precision.


Mobile apps

Mobile app microscopes can optionally be used as optical microscope when the flashlight is activated. However, mobile app microscopes are harder to use due to visual noise, are often limited to 40x, and the resolution limits of the
camera lens A camera lens (also known as photographic lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capab ...
itself.


See also

*
Fluorescence interference contrast microscopy Fluorescence interference contrast (FLIC) microscopy is a microscopic technique developed to achieve z-resolution on the nanometer scale. FLIC occurs whenever fluorescent objects are in the vicinity of a reflecting surface (e.g. Si wafer). The resu ...
* Laser capture microdissection * Microscope image processing * Microscope slide *
Multifocal plane microscopy Multifocal plane microscopy (MUM) or multiplane microscopy or multifocus microscopy is a form of light microscopy that allows the tracking of the 3D dynamics in live cells at high temporal and spatial resolution by simultaneously imaging differe ...
* Royal Microscopical Society


References


External links


Milestones in Light Microscopy
''Nature Publishing''

(archived 4 April 2009)
Nikon MicroscopyU, tutorials from Nikon


{{Authority control Microbiology equipment Microscopy Scientific instruments