Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Single Plane Illumination Module and Micro-capillary Approach for a Wide-field Microscope
Published on: August 15, 2014
User-friendly oblique plane microscopy on a fully functional commercially available microscope base
George Sirinakis1,2, Edward S Allgeyer1, Dmitry Nashchekin1
1The Gurdon Institute and the Department of Genetics University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QN, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
In this work we present an oblique plane microscope designed to work seamlessly with a commercially available microscope base. To support all the functionality offered by the microscope base, where the position of the objective lens is not fixed, we adopted a two-mirror scanning geometry that can compensate for changes to the position of the objective lens during routine microscope operation. We showed that within a ± 1 mm displacement range of the 100X, 1.35 NA objective lens away from its designed position, the PSF size increased by <3% and <11% in the lateral and axial dimensions, respectively, while the error in magnification was <0.5% within volumes extending ± 10 µm about the focal plane. Compared to the more traditional scan-lens/galvo-mirror combination, the two-mirror scanning geometry offers higher light efficiency and a more compact footprint, which could be beneficial to all OPM designs regardless of the use of a commercial base or not.
Related Concept Videos
Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...
Overview of Microscopy Techniques
Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy
Overview of Electron Microscopy
Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy
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...

