Talk:Phase contrast microscope

merger with "phase contrast microscopy"
I think the two articles should be merged.--Kramer 23:52, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I do too. But into "phase contrast microscopy" (but I guess that's obvious).Michael zh 13:05, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

In favour too Ramoul 14:29, 13 August 2007 (UTC)


 * yes, the phase contrast microscope section is too small to be of use on its own and would be virtually identical to the microscopy section.


 * No because then the phase contrast microscope page will be too long and tedious to search through to find out about what are the disadvantages of the microscopy for example- Chandni Vishrolia

Support - They should be merged to phase contrast microscopy. Nmnogueira 15:39, 29 September 2007 (UTC) 'Support – I also support this, as per nom. Its been a few months and there has been no opposition to this proposal, so I'll probably carry out the merger shortly (probably by merging "Phase contrast microscope" into "Phase contrast microscopy"). A short section on "phase contrast in electron microscopy", with a link to Phase-contrast imaging, should also be added. Peter G Werner (talk) 20:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

how to make a phase contrast microscope in the form of a school level project?
If you've already got a microscope that can do Köhler illumination, "all" you'll need to do is to introduce a mask in the condensor upper focal plane and a phase-shift ring into the back objective focal plane. From a handiwork point of view, the mask should certainly be do-able, as it's "just" a piece of thin metal with a ring-shaped hole cut into it, and then you mount the thing at the right position in the microscope. The phase-shift ring however might be more difficult: you'll need to find a glass plate which has *very* parallel surfaces (ie no thickness differences bigger than 0.00001 mm), and then somehow put a ring-shaped layer of stuff on that's approx. 0.001 mm thick (depending on what stuff you choose). Might be worth while looking for a "quater phase plate" on ebay for that...). In short, what I'd try:


 * See if you can find a microscope with köhler illumination. If you can't, I suggest you build some type of telescope instead.


 * See if you can find a quater phase plate that you can somehow build into your objective.


 * If both the above are true, read up on how a phase contrast microscope works.


 * Find out where your various focal planes are.


 * You'll then need to tailor your mask to the size of the quater-phase ring you found.


 * Start pimping your microscope:-)


 * When applying points 1through6: Have fun!

Hope this helps. Cheers Michael zh 13:41, 16 July 2007 (UTC)