This tutorial explores how light is scattered and diffracted by a specimen into the front lens of a darkfield reflected light objective. Instructions for use of the tutorial appear below the applet window.

Use the slider to translate the specimen into and out of the hollow cone of illumination produced by the objective. Light enters the hollow periphery of the objective (which serves as a condenser in this situation) and is reflected through a series of lenses and mirrored surfaces. The focused light is then projected into an apex that illuminates the specimen at an oblique angle from every azimuth. No zeroth order light reaches the specimen, only light that has been diffracted, refracted and reflected from the surface of the specimen is able to enter the front lens of the objective to form an image. In the absence of a specimen, the viewfield appears totally back, because no light is reflected or diffracted into the objective.

---

BACK TO DARKFIELD MICROSCOPY

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1998-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Last modification: Thursday, Feb 25, 2016 at 03:34 PM

Access Count Since June 19, 1999: 28488

For more information on microscope manufacturers,
use the buttons below to navigate to their websites: