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TURRET-FREE DIC (Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy) John Hart Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Feb 14, 2008
Differential Interference Contrast microscopy can be implemented on the Olympus BH2 microscope by using a simple holder (turned out of Delrin) to position the lower Nomarski Prisms at, or just below, the aperture of a standard BH2 Aplanat-Achromatic sub-stage condenser. This circumvents the need for the hard-to-find BH2-UCD turret condenser.
BH2 Aplan-Achro sub-stage condenser with a DIY Delrin holder that positions the prism just at the location of (or just below, if desired) the condenser aperture. The prism is inserted (right), and rotated to optimal position while on the scope. A clip on the microscope's condenser bracket holds the insert in place. Below are images of frog ovaries using the Olympus SPlan-APO 60X NA1.4 (oil) objective. These show that the prism-insert method is pretty good. The diameter of the prism (see above) limits the effective NA of the condenser to about 1.1 . Thus, oiling the condenser (NA 1.4) is perhaps not worth the mess. The images below show one example, with a shot using the correct Olympus condenser included for comparison purposes. Notes: The 4 images below are cropped to fit on the webpage. To look at the larger sizes (5000 wide original, or 1000 wide resize of the original, or 1000 wide crops of the original 5000 wide full-view), right click, save as, and download the images via the blue links. There are some differences in positioning because when changing condensers the slide got bumped. It was also difficult to get the prism insert rotated to an angle that is exactly the same as it is when locked into position in the UCD condenser. There always seems a bit of tuning with DIC .
SPlanApo 60X NA1.4 (oil) with BH2-AplanAchro (no oil), and 60Xprism (NA ~ 1.1). Full View. Original (24MB). Resized image.
5X Crop. Image made with BH2-AplanAchro condenser (not oiled). NA ~1.1. Download full image.
5X Crop. Image made with BH2-AplanAchro condenser (oiled). NA~1.1. Download full image.
5X Crop. Image made with 60X prism inserted into a BH2-UCD (dry) NA 0.9. Download full image. |
