Welcome to Phase Contrast Microscopy
Welcome to the exciting field of science called Phase Contrast Microscopy. You have found the correct website that is devoted to this specific subject. Our intent is to provide our visitors pertinent information on phase contrast equipment as well as related science and biology articles to further ones knowledge in phase contrast microscopy (PCM).
Most living bioligical specimens are translucent. When viewed under transmitted light in a high power compound light microscope, there is often little or no distinguishable contrast in the image. The solution came with the advent of the phase contrast microscope. It is well known that a change in medium will shift a ray of light out of phase, slowing it down if the medium is denser than what it was travelling in. It also bends the light, such as a flashlight beam is bent when shining into a body of water at night. This same principle of light is applied to the discovery of the phase contrast microscope.
When the light travels through a specimen, parts of the specimen are denser than other parts, so this creates the phase shift in the transmitted light. This phase shift is able to be detected and transferred to a corresponding change in light intensity in the phase contrast microscopy system. This gives the ability for a normally translucent specimen to show differing gradients of light shades, thus resulting in contrast differences.
The effect is stunning on specimens what are typically translucent under normal brightfield microscopy illumination conditions in a compound light microscope. The phase contrast microscope consists of a normal compound light microscope that has special phase contrast objectives that have a phase disc in the back aperature plane. This disc is aligned with the properly sized phase annulus ring in the light condenser. Each magnification of phase requires the corresponding magnification size of phase annulus ring in the light condenser.
A phase telescope is used to align the phase objectives with the phase annulus rings. The phase telescope allows us to view a different plan system in the microscope that is not normally in focus at the focal plane of the eyepieces. Applications for phase contrast microscopy equipment range from the study of living biological specimens, medical applications, study of live blood cells, and other biological and science applications. It is also useful for the counting of asbestos fiber concentrations since the asbestos fibers are typically translucent under normal brightfield microscopy illumination methods. Whatever your needs are for phase contrast microscopy equipment, we recommend you to contact us today to speak to a skilled microscopist professional.
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