5
Microscope Setup
The Desktop microscope system is completely assembled and requires only the supplied power
cable and CAT5E communication cable to operate immediately.
5.1
Step 1
Plug the 12 VDC camera power cable into the outlet shown in Fig. 3 on page 4. Some models
of the Desktop microscope will have a separate 6 VDC power cable for the laser; this is to
be connected to the outlet located just below the switch for the laser, shown in Fig. 4 on the
previous page.
5.2
Step 2
Connect the microscope to the computer with Octopus software installed, with a CAT5 or 6
Ethernet cable, to the port located just above the power connection, shown in Fig. 3 on page 4.
Turn the laser on with the switch shown in Fig. 4 on the previous page.
5.3
Step 3
Open the Octopus program, and go to the camera tab. The program connects to the camera
automatically and holograms can be saved or reconstructed in real time.
6
Principle of Operation
The Desktop microscope operates on the principles of holography to image a volume in magni-
fication. A 405 nm laser is focused on a 500 nm pinhole of the same order of magnitude as the
wavelength of the light, which produces a spatially coherent light source as a reference wave.
Light scattering from the objects within the media (water) will interfere with the reference wave
to produce an interference pattern which contains spatial and phase information of the objects
within the volume. This interference pattern, the hologram, is recorded by a CCD camera, and
reconstructed mathematically to build images of the objects within the volume.
6
