Optical Microscope - Optical Microscope Variants

Optical Microscope Variants

Main article: Microscopy See also: Stereo microscope, Comparison microscope, Confocal microscope, USB microscope, and Digital microscope

There are many variants of the basic compound optical microscope design for specialized purposes. Some of these are physical design differences allowing specialization for certain purposes:

• Stereo microscope, a low powered microscope which provides a stereoscopic view of the sample, commonly used for dissection.
• Comparison microscope, which has two separate light paths allowing direct comparison of two samples via one image in each eye.
• Inverted microscope, for studying samples from below; useful for cell cultures in liquid.
• Student microscope, designed for low cost, durability, and ease of use.
• Fiber optic connector inspection microscope, designed for connector end-face inspection

Other microscope variants are designed for different illumination techniques:

• Petrographic microscope, whose design usually includes a polarizing filter, rotating stage and gypsum plate to facilitate the study of minerals or other crystalline materials whose optical properties can vary with orientation.
• Polarizing microscope, similar to the petrographic microscope.
• Phase contrast microscope, which applies the phase contrast illumination method.
• Epifluorescence microscope, designed for analysis of samples which include fluorophores.
• Confocal microscope, a widely used variant of epifluorescent illumination which uses a scanning laser to illuminate a sample for fluorescence.