How to Build a Microscope: An Introduction

This webinar is the first in a multi-part series covering how to build a microscope from the ground up. Our imaging team provides an introduction to microscopy system design that will serve as a strong foundation for coming webinars.
For more webinars, visit www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage....

[@sandipdesh]

That was very elaborate👍

[@troi818]

Thank you so much for this presentation.

[@maxwellconniff1189]

This is so good. Thank you very much for providing these resources with your expert insight. I can't believe this has zero comments.
Are these slides available anywhere perchance?

[@thorlabs]

Thank you for your comment! We would be happy to share these slides if you reach out to our tech support with your contact email ([e-mail]).

[@andriikulakovskyi6534]

Thank you very much for sharing this video, this is very interesting. Would it be possible to share a list of components used for DIY fluorescent microscopes?

[@thorlabs]

All of our fluorescent microscope configurations can be found here: www.thorlabs.com/navigation.cfm?guide_id=2394. Each configuration has a list of components on its product page. Thank you for the question!

[@MN-mj9ok]

Thank you for this helpful presentation. I have one question. What is the importance of magnification of lens besides resolution and FOV in microscopy?

[@thorlabs]

With higher magnification, typically the numerical aperture, NA, also increases. Aside from the resolution and the FOV, the magnification of the objective lens also has an impact on the working distance and the depth of field. In general, higher magnification objectives have lower working distance and smaller depth of field. Working distance is the distance between the front of the microscope objective lens and the surface of the specimen or slide coverslip. The depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. From this, you can infer conditions such as flatness and thickness about specimens that you can use with the objectives.

[@MN-mj9ok]

@@thorlabs Thanks a lot for your answer. Sorry I have again one question. How does affect magnification on resolution and NA?

[@thorlabs]

Please refer to 21:00 minute mark of the presentation that discusses numerical aperture, NA. The NA a measure of the acceptance angle of an objective, is a dimensionless quantity. It is commonly expressed as NA = ni × sinθa where θa is the maximum 1/2 acceptance angle of the objective, and ni is the index of refraction of the immersion medium. This medium is typically air, but may also be water, oil, or other substances.
The numerical aperture increases as more optical correction is applied. A typical 4x objective has 0.1 NA when it is a Plan Achromat and 0.13 NA when Plan Fluorite. Within the same objective line, for example of the dry plan fluorite line, the NA typically increases with magnification of the objective such that the NA is 0.3 for 10X, 0.5 for 20x, 0,75 for 40x and so on.
On the 24:37 mark, resolution which is an optical property with a physical limit dependent on NA is discussed. The most common description of resolution in microscopy is the Abbe diffraction limit, d, is defined as d=λ/2NA where λ is the wavelength of the light.

[@MN-mj9ok]

@@thorlabs Thank you🙏