Parts of a Brightfield Microscope
A brightfield microscope is a type of microscope that utilizes the brightfield microscopy technique. This is a type of optical microscopy illumination that is the simplest and most reliable among all the microscopy techniques out there. This microscopy technique uses white light for illumination that comes from below the specimen in what is called transmitted illumination.However, it can also be considered as the method of lighting in a stereoscope using upper incident illumination.
Utilizing the most basic type of microscopy, the bright field microscope is widely used from simple and starting types like kid or child school microscope to university or professional level models. Just as a simple compound light microscope that uses brightfield microscopy is important to students as well as children, bright field microscopes are also indispensable to biologists as well as microbiologists in their respective fields.
A brightfield microscope has the most basic components. In fact, a bright field microscope is easy and simple to set-up because of there is not much equipment that is required. It is supported by the base which is where the light source or illuminator is located. The arm connects the base to the lens system. The lens system consists of the objective lens, the eyepiece or ocular and the condenser.
The objective lens of a bright field microscope magnifies the image of the specimen. They are considered to be very important among all parts of the microscope since they have a high effect on the quality of the specimen’s image. These objective lenses come in varying magnifying powers that can easily be recognized from their length and the value that is engraved on each of their barrels. The shortest one is the low power objective while the oil-immersion objective is the longest one. There is also the high power objective.
The microscope eyepiece or ocular of a brightfield microscope is responsible for magnifying the image from the objective lens. There are many kinds of oculars that are manufactured and choosing one for your microscope depends on what kind objective lens you use.
The condenser lens functions to supply a sufficient cone of light and direct it so that it passes through the specimen. When properly position and of good quality, the condenser can contribute to a better optical images.
Other basic components include the body tube which connects the objective lens to the microscope eyepiece. It also serves as a tunnel for light to pass through to the oculars. There is also the coarse adjustment and fine adjustment knobs that arrange the focus of the image. The microscope stage is where the microscope slide is placed and which allows its movement.
Other improvements in the design may consist of making changes to the light path. The condenser lens may be incorporated with the iris diaphragm and the filter holder. The iris diaphragm is responsible for controlling the light density by increasing or decreasing the amount of illumination. The filter can be a polarizing filter or simply a blue filter to highlight the areas of the specimen which cannot be seen under the white light. This is especially useful when observing mineral samples.
Staining methods are also being used in biological microscopes under microbiological applications. This is to enable cells with low contrast to be viewed under the microscope. The dyes used are with positively charged ions or chromophores that attach itself to cells that are negatively charged. The process and the kinds of stains used depend on what kind of specimen is used.
Brightfield microscopes are one of the most common types. It is very important to learn how to use them if you wish to learn more about microbiology and clinical-medical applications.
