Phase Contrast Microscopy
Phase Contrast Microscopy, is a transmitted light contrast enhancing technique. It uses an optical system consisting of a quarter wave plate in the objective plane and an illuminating annulus in the condenser plane. This arrangement creates in phase and out of phase image components which translates minute variations in phase into corresponding changes in amplitude -visualized as differences in image contrast.
Like DIC, it enables microscopists to visualise unstained fixed or live cells and can be applied to wide variety of specimens which are unstained and transparent such as; living and fixed cells, microorganisms, thin tissue slices, lithographic patterns, chemical crystals, fibres, colloidal dispersions, silica fragments etc and subcellular particles.
Phase contrast is available on both the Zeiss AxioImager and the Leica TCS SP2 UV. The Zeiss AxioImager is the microscope most suited to imaging using this technique with its sensitive colour camera, but can be used as a useful adjunct to confocal imaging on the Leica SP2 UV, but with some loss of fluorescence signal as a consequence.
