Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Two-Dimensional Microscopy in Microbiology01:29

Two-Dimensional Microscopy in Microbiology

Two-dimensional (2D) microscopy encompasses a range of optical techniques that capture images within a single focal plane, offering detailed representations of microscopic structures. These techniques are essential in biological and medical research, enabling the visualization of cellular and subcellular structures with different levels of contrast and specificity.There are several major types of 2D microscopy, each with strengths and applications.Bright-Field MicroscopyBright-field microscopy...
Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy01:18

Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy

Optical microscopy uses optic principles to provide detailed images of samples. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek designed the first compound optical microscope in the 17th century to visualize blood cells, bacteria, and yeast cells. In 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister created an essentially modern light microscope. The 20th century saw the development of microscopes with enhanced magnification and resolution.
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...
Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy01:37

Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy (SRFM) provides a better resolution than conventional fluorescence microscopy by reducing the point spread function (PSF). PSF is the light intensity distribution from a point that causes it to appear blurred. Due to PSF, each fluorescing point appears bigger than its actual size, and it is the PSF interference of nearby fluorophores that causes the blurred image. Various approaches to achieving higher resolution through SRFM have recently been developed.
Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy01:26

Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

Phase-Contrast Microscopes
In-phase-contrast microscopes, interference between light directly passing through a cell and light refracted by cellular components is used to create high-contrast, high-resolution images without staining. It is the oldest and simplest type of microscope that creates an image by altering the wavelengths of light rays passing through the specimen. Altered wavelength paths are created using an annular stop in the condenser. The annular stop produces a hollow cone of...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Retinal and Intracranial Hemorrhages in Abusive Head Trauma: A Retrospective Study.

Journal of pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus·2026
Same author

Nonlinear wave dynamics on a chip.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2025
Same author

Fibre-coupled photonic crystal hydrophone.

Optics express·2025
Same author

Biomolecular Condensates as Emerging Biomaterials: Functional Mechanisms and Advances in Computational and Experimental Approaches.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)·2025
Same author

The effects of solar radiation modification on solar and wind resource and power generation in the Caribbean.

PloS one·2025
Same author

Low-Dissipation Nanomechanical Devices from Monocrystalline Silicon Carbide.

Nano letters·2025
Same journal

Multifunctional reconfigurable terahertz metasurface based on vanadium dioxide phase transition: achieving broadband absorption and efficient polarization conversion.

Applied optics·2026
Same journal

High-Q-factor electromagnetically induced transparency utilizing quasi-bound states in the continuum in an all-dielectric terahertz metasurface.

Applied optics·2026
Same journal

Automated stitching interferometry for high-precision metrology of X-ray mirrors.

Applied optics·2026
Same journal

Experimental demonstration of an approach to designing a metal-dielectric DBR resonant cavity structure.

Applied optics·2026
Same journal

High-precision wavefront reconstruction from a single-shot interferogram using a physics-driven hybrid feature calibration network.

Applied optics·2026
Same journal

Ultra-high-Q Fano resonance based on coupled topological corner states in Kagome photonic crystals.

Applied optics·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 8, 2026

Identification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in Histological Samples by Enhanced Darkfield Microscopy and Hyperspectral Mapping
12:19

Identification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in Histological Samples by Enhanced Darkfield Microscopy and Hyperspectral Mapping

Published on: December 8, 2015

Enhanced sensitivity in dark-field microscopy by optimizing the illumination angle.

Michael A Taylor1, Warwick P Bowen

  • 1Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.

Applied Optics
|August 14, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Dark-field microscopy can suppress unwanted scattered light by optimizing illumination angles. This technique significantly enhances signal-to-noise ratio for biological imaging, improving sensitivity in microscopy measurements.

More Related Videos

Single Plane Illumination Module and Micro-capillary Approach for a Wide-field Microscope
08:53

Single Plane Illumination Module and Micro-capillary Approach for a Wide-field Microscope

Published on: August 15, 2014

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy
14:23

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy

Published on: March 6, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 8, 2026

Identification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in Histological Samples by Enhanced Darkfield Microscopy and Hyperspectral Mapping
12:19

Identification of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles in Histological Samples by Enhanced Darkfield Microscopy and Hyperspectral Mapping

Published on: December 8, 2015

Single Plane Illumination Module and Micro-capillary Approach for a Wide-field Microscope
08:53

Single Plane Illumination Module and Micro-capillary Approach for a Wide-field Microscope

Published on: August 15, 2014

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy
14:23

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy

Published on: March 6, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Microscopy
  • Optical Physics
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Dark-field microscopy is a standard technique for reducing background noise from unscattered light.
  • Scattered light can still contribute to background noise, limiting sensitivity in certain applications.
  • Optimizing illumination is crucial for maximizing signal in microscopy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the suppression of unwanted scattered light in dark-field microscopy by controlling illumination angles.
  • To quantify the impact of illumination angle and objective numerical aperture on collected photon flux.
  • To assess the potential for improving signal-to-noise ratio in dark-field microscopy.

Main Methods:

  • Mie scattering calculations were performed for various particle sizes and objectives.
  • Collected photon flux was modeled across a range of illumination angles.
  • Sensitivity analysis was conducted for dark-field measurements limited by background scattering.

Main Results:

  • Appropriate selection of illumination angles effectively suppresses background scattered light.
  • Lowering objective numerical aperture improves sensitivity when background scattering is limiting.
  • A model dark-field experiment showed a signal-to-noise ratio improvement exceeding three orders of magnitude compared to bright-field.

Conclusions:

  • Optimized illumination angles are key to enhancing dark-field microscopy performance.
  • Adjusting objective numerical aperture can further boost sensitivity in challenging imaging scenarios.
  • Dark-field microscopy offers substantial advantages for imaging biological samples like lipid granules in yeast cells.