Optical Microscopy Course Educational Kit

Optical Microscopy Course Educational Kit

• Designed for Educational, Demonstration, and Classroom Use
• Complete Kit Includes All Necessary Hardware Except Computer
• Extensive Manual, Lab Notes, Course Notes, and Instructor Notes Guide Students and Teachers Through Full Quarter- or Semester-Long Course
• Choose from Educational Kits Containing Imperial or Metric Components

Thorlabs Educational Products

Thorlabs' line of educational products aims to promote physics, optics, and photonics by covering many classic experiments, as well as emerging fields of research. Each educational kit includes all the necessary components and a manual that contains both detailed setup instructions and extensive teaching materials. These kits are being offered at the price of the included components, with the educational materials offered for free. Technical support from our educational team is available both before and after purchase.

About the Kit

Thorlabs' Optical Microscopy Course Educational Kit takes students through a quarter- or semester-long microscopy course covering optical properties, imaging techniques, and microscope design. It includes a modular, open optical rail upon which students assemble and align an infinite-conjugates microscope.

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Resolution Target Included with EDU-OMC1(/M) Kit

Optics
The students assemble the microscope components on the rail, gaining hands-on experience regarding the importance of position and alignment. The critical optics include:

• Plano-Convex Collector Lens, f = 35 mm
• Achromatic Condenser Lens, f = 50 mm
• Achromatic Objective Lens, f = 25 mm
• Achromatic Tube Lens, f = 150 mm

A custom resolution target is provided for teaching Abbe theory and Fourier optics. The features on the target are chrome coated and include a Siemens star, Ronchi rulings, USAF 1951 and NBS 1963A bar sets, interdigitated lines, postitive- and negative-mask holes, a distortion grid, and concentric circles.

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Schematic of All Critical Microscope Components for Köhler Illumination

Digital Imaging
The students use two cameras during the course: a monochrome camera for imaging the sample and a color camera for imaging the objective back focal plane. The cameras were chosen such that image sampling is above the Nyquist frequency when using the objective lenses in this kit. See the Specs tab for details on these cameras.

Illumination
Once the students build sufficient understanding of fundamental optical properties, they set up Köhler illumination; the layout is illustrated in the image to the right. The students use this setup for the majority of the course to investigate coherent and incoherent illumination, aberrations, and the effects of exposure and gain settings on the quality of the final image, especially on image contrast and resolution. This setup is ideal for teaching the Abbe theory of image formation, a central element of the course.

Imaging Modes
The kit primarily uses brightfield imaging. In the later labs of the course, students investigate darkfield, phase contrast, and fluorescence microscopy. Optics are provided to enable these lessons, including a zero-order blocking mask, a Nikon 10X phase contrast objective, and a set of fluorescent calibration microscope slides. Note that the kit is designed for educational purposes and not for scientific use in any of these imaging modes without substantial modifications to the assembly.

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Köhler Illumination Configuration using EDU-OMC1(/M) Kit

Topics Covered

The students engage in weekly lab sessions where they gain experience using different imaging methods. A summary of the main topics covered in the course is provided below.

Optical Imaging Basics

Students begin by learning the basics of light waves, optics, and imaging. They become familiar with wave properties and the behavior of light, giving them an understanding of diffraction, image formation, resolution, and aberrations. The lab sections guide students as they set up a digital camera and spectrometer to measure the focal length of a lens, spectra of several light sources, and resolution of the system. From the beginning, the course emphasizes safe handling procedures for delicate equipment, as well as proper documentation for lab write-ups.

Köhler Illumination

The kit then leads students through the setup of controlled Köhler illumination to provide bright, uniform illumination to the sample. The students examine how each component in the system can be adjusted to alter the resulting image, including the angle of illumination and the numerical aperture of the objective. They also learn about conjugate planes and where images form within the microscope system.

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Left: 150 lp/mm Test Target Grid Pattern; Right: Corresponding Diffraction Pattern in the Objective Back Focal Plane. As part of the lab on Abbe theory, students spatially filter diffraction patterns in the back focal plane in order to modify the resulting image.

Abbe Theory of Image Formation

Making use of two cameras, the students observe both the sample plane and the objective back focal plane at the same time. Abbe theory draws from Fourier optics and explains how manipulation of the diffracted orders in the back focal plane impacts the resulting image of the sample. These exercises lead the students into an exploration of different contrast methods.

Contrast Methods

The students deepen their understanding of Abbe theory and the modulation transfer function, as well as the effects of coherent versus incoherent illumination. They also build on their experience manipulating the diffracted orders of light in the back focal plane to set up darkfield and phase contrast imaging and use them to image transparent objects. These experiments allow students to gain more familiarity with conjugate planes, consider resolution and contrast in more detail, and develop intuition about how image information is distributed in the back focal plane of the objective.

Fluorescence Microscopy

Students learn about fluorescence imaging, an immensely important tool in modern biology. They gain familiarity with the nature of fluorescence excitation and emission, and use appropriate interference filters to implement fluorescence imaging and investigate different samples.

Spectra and Filters

The final lesson provides a deeper exploration of spectra. Students continue working with spectrometers, examining the behavior of different types of filters and the limitations of interference filters. This section also includes a detailed, spreadsheet-based problem set in which students learn the highly practical skill of choosing quantitatively the optimal filters for imaging with a given fluorophore, camera, and light source.

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Left: Brightfield Image of Cellulose Paper Fibers; Right: Fluorescence Image of the Same Fibers, Stained with Rhodamine-Type Fluorescent Dye from a Standard Highlighter. Students prepare their own samples for fluorescence imaging as well as phase contrast imaging using items provided in the EDU-OMC1(/M) kit.

Optical Microscopy Educational Kit Components

Thorlabs' Optical Microscopy Course Educational Kit is available in imperial and metric versions. In cases where the metric and imperial kits contain parts with different item numbers, metric measurements are indicated in parenthesis.

Several items included with the kit are consumables, such as microscope slides and cover glass. For replacements of any consumable items below, please contact Tech Support.

Instructional Videos for EDU-OMC1

Abbe's Experiments by Dr. Peter Evennett

1. Introduction
2. Resolution and the Objective Aperture
3. Resolution and Wavelength
4. Interference of Two Beams
5. Interference and Coherence of Beams
6. Darkfield Images
7. Phase Contrast Technique
8. Building an Image from the Diffraction Pattern
9. A Journey Through the Microscope

Software Quick Start Guide

This video provides a brief tutorial for Thorlabs' ThorCam software used during the course.

Links to sources referenced in the Lab Notes, Course Notes, and Instructor Notes can be found here. Please help us maintain this section by reporting missing or broken links on the Feedback tab, where you can also post technical questions or user comments about this kit.

Click on the images below to download the course materials.

Lab Notes	Course Notes	Instructor Notes*	Manual

*Note: An abridged version of the Instructor Notes is available for download. The full version is included on the USB stick shipped with the kit or available by contacting Tech Support.

CMOS Camera Software

Version 3.7.0

The ThorCam™ software is used to control Thorlabs' CMOS cameras.

ThorCam is a powerful image acquisition software package that is designed for use with our cameras on 32- and 64-bit Windows^® 7, 10, or 11 systems. This intuitive, easy-to-use graphical interface provides camera control as well as the ability to acquire and play back images. Single image capture and image sequences are supported. Application programming interfaces (APIs) and a software development kit (SDK) are included for the development of custom applications by OEMs and developers. The SDK provides easy integration with a wide variety of programming languages, such as C, C++, C#, and Visual Basic .NET. Support for third-party software packages, such as LabVIEW, MATLAB, µManager, and MetaMorph, is available.

See the Videos tab for a quick guide to the ThorCam software.

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ThorCam Graphical User Interface

CCS Spectrometer Software

Version 3.35

The ThorSpectra application package is used to control Thorlabs' CCS Series Spectrometers.

Thorlabs' CCS Series Spectrometers are controlled by our ThorSpectra CCS software package. Please note that this software package is not compatible with Windows XP; for more information about using a spectrometer with Windows XP, please contact Tech Support.

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ThorSpectra Graphical User Interface

Other Software

The course also uses ImageJ, which can be downloaded here, and the Slanted Edge MTF plugin, which can be downloaded here.

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This optional enclosure is designed to fit conveniently around the fully assembled microscope system.

Optional Enclosure for EDU-OMC1(/M) Kit

To aid in storing the kit and protecting components when not in use, an optical enclosure that can be assembled around the kit when it is already set up can be purchased by contacting Tech Support. Multiple enclosures can be stacked on top of one another, provided the top panel is attached using low-profile cap screws. For the complete list of the enclosure components, see the table to the lower right.

Daniel Fletcher, Ph.D.

Neil Switz, Ph.D.

This kit grew out of the Practical Optical Microscopy course developed at the University of California, Berkeley by Neil Switz and Daniel Fletcher. We cordially thank them for making their class materials freely available to the optics community, and for their extensive collaboration in developing this kit. Their contributions have helped facilitate and simplify the provision of rich laboratory experiences in the undergraduate optics curriculum.

Neil Switz received his Ph.D. in biophysics from UC Berkeley. He has industry experience engineering medical gas monitoring systems and starting a publicly listed microfluidics and fluorescence imaging-based biotechnology company. Neil has won multiple awards for teaching, and is now on the physics faculty at San José State University.

Dan Fletcher received his D.Phil. from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is now Chair in the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley and continues to teach courses on optics, microscopy, and cell mechanics. He and his laboratory perform research on the membrane and cytoskeletal structures that animate cell movements.

Do you have ideas for an experiment that you would like to see implemented in an educational kit? Contact us at techsupport@thorlabs.com; we'd love to hear your ideas.