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Classical interference microscopy

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Classical interference microscopy utilizes two separate light beams with greater lateral separation than that used in the differential interference microscope (DIC). This can be as much as 6cm (as in the double-optics Mach-Zehnder system of Leitz). In many variants of the interference microscope the images produced of the object may necessarily be duplicated, separated either laterally within the visual field or at different focal planes. Interference microscopy became relatively popular in the 1940-1970 decades but fell into disuse because of the complexity of the instrument and difficulties in both its use and in the interpretation of image data. The main advantage offered by the instrument was the possibility of measuring the projected dry mass of living cells, which was best exploited by Huxley in his studies of striated muscle cell structure and function.

Instrumentation History

  • Smith system (C. Baker, London, England)
  • Dyson (Cooke Troughton & Simms, York, England)
  • Jamin-Lebedeff (E. Leitz, Wetzlar, & Zeiss, Germany)
  • Mach-Zehnder (E. Leitz, Wetzlar, Germany)


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