Welcome to Fluorescence Microscopy
Welcome to the exciting science of fluorescence microscopy. This website is devoted to serving fluoresence microscopists around the world who need up to date information on equipment and news articles relating to the field of fluorescent microscopy. This type of microscope is used by biologists, microbiologists, medical research laboratories, molecular biology labs, medical clinics, and pharmaceutical research labs.
The fluoresence microscope is essentially a high power compound light microscope that has been fitted with a mercury illuminator, a dichroic fluorescence filter cube, and fluorescent objectives. The most significant difference in a fluorescent microscopy system as compared to a normal brightfield microscopy system is that the light shown on the specimen is not the same light as viewed through the eyepieces. The light incident is only an excitation light. The image viewed is the light that has fluoresced from the biological specimen.
Different types of fluorescence dyes may be used on the samples. The wavelength spectrum of the dye or of the natural fluorescing specimen needs to be matched up with the wavelength spectrum of the fluorescence filters in the dichroic filter cube. The dichroic filter cube is the heart of the fluorescence microscopy system as it controls what light wavelengths are incident on the specimen as well as which are passed through to the viewing eyepieces. The 100 Watt mercury arc light bulb provides the illumination source that is filtered through the first fluorescence filter in the dichroic cube.
This filter is called the excitation filter since it controls the wavelength of light that is allowed to excite the fluorescing molecules in the specimen. The next filter in the dichroc cube is called the emission filter. It is a bandpass filter that allows only a narrow range of wavelengths to pass through to the eyepieces. The precise selection of the excitation and the emission filters in a fluorescence microscopy system is critical to properly viewing the optimal image. Different specimens and fluorescence dyes may require different filter pairs. Another issue in obtaining the optimal image in a fluorescent microscope is the proper alignment of the optical path. Even a slight misalignment of the mercury arc bulb is enough to significantly affect the optical quality. If you have a need for a fluoresence microscopy system, please contact us today as we can provide several different models.
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