OPERATION
ZEISS
Illumination and contrast methods in transmitted light
Axiolab 5
108
430037-7444-001
05/2019
1
6x20mm slider with lambda/4 plate
2
Lower section of circular polarizer
3
Lever for rotating the lambda/4 plate
4
Lambda/4 plate in the upper part of the circular polarizer
5
Adjustment slits
Fig. 4-16
Components for circular polarization contrast on conoscopy stand
•
An (anisotropic) specimen should not be examined until after the above adjustment has been
completed.
•
Reinsert the specimen to be examined.
The interference colors – which depend on the material, specimen thickness and orientation – of the
specimens appear constant and independent of stage rotation.
NOTE
For a high-contrast image with higher-magnification objectives (from approx. 20x) the
illumination aperture must be reduced to a value between 0.15 and 0.20, i.e. the aperture
diaphragm must be closed accordingly.
The effect of the lambda/4 plate (Fig. 4-16/
4
) can be undone by either swiveling it out of the
beam path or turning it with the lever (Fig. 4-16/
3
) to one of its two click-stop positions.