Microscopy setup

FIG. 7.5 Photograph of a commercial film balance. The photograph shows a minitrough with microscopy setup. (Courtesy of KSV Instruments, Ltd., Hoylaamotie 11B, SF-00380 Helsinki, Finland.)... 

Below we will describe the optical microscopy setups for performing fluorescence measurements. Afterward we will discuss the apphcation of the fluorescence measurements to quantitatively visualize and characterize transport of fluid and individual biological molecules in microfluidic and nanofluidic studies. 

Fluorescence Measurements, Fig. 2 The basic anatomy of a common fluorescence microscopy setup. LS light source, OD optical detector, ExF excitation filter, EmF emission filter, DM dichroic mirror, L lens, EM position of fluorochrome molecules... 

Fluorescence measurements are very important in studies on microfluidics and nanofluidics, with main applications on flow visualization and single-molecule detection. To achieve measurements with higher spatial resolution, which becomes more significant with the rapid development of nanofiuidics, research efforts should be focused on developing more advanced fluorescence microscopy setups. The particularly useful setups will be the ones that can break the classic optical diffraction limit. 

For fluorescence measurements in very small scales, such as the investigations performed in microfluidics and nanofluidics, an optical microscope is necessary. Among the most important elements of the setup are the set of optical Alters, which separate the excitation light from the emission light. When both the excitation light path and the emission light path use the same lens near the fluorochrome molecules, the setup is termed as an Epi-Fluorescence Microscopy setup. 

Corni, S. (2005] The reorganization energy of azurin in bulk solution and in the electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy setup, / Phys. Chem. B, 109, 3423-3430. 

Figure 5.48. Schematic of the experimental setup for using Scanning Tunelling Microscopy (STM) to investigate a Pt(lll) catalyst-electrode surface.78 Reprinted with permission from Elsevier Science.

Figure 17 Experimental setup for time-resolved luminescence microscopy with lanthanide ions.

Instrument Setup for Simple Dark-Field Microscopy... 

As described before, special built-in equipment is not always necessary for dark-field microscopy, and one can readily convert bright-field illumination to dark-field illumination. An inverted microscope equipped with long-distance (low NA) lenses is suitable for setup of a dark-fieldmicroscope. A handmade ring-slit is available when objective lenses such as x4 lens withNA 0.13, xlO lens withNA 0.30, and x20 lens... 

Owen, R. J., Heyes, C. D., Knebel, D., Rocker, C., and Nienhaus, G. U. (2006). An integrated instrumental setup for the combination of atomic force microscopy with optical spectroscopy. Biopolymers 82, 410-414. 

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