OPERATION
ZEISS
Illumination and contrast methods in transmitted light
Axiolab 5
106
430037-7444-001
05/2019
The suitable compensator is determined as follows:
•
Configure the microscope as for transmitted light brightfield microscopy (see section 4.2.1), taking
care to ensure the correct inter-pupillary distance in the binocular tube (see section 4.1.1).
•
Accurately position the specimen to be examined on the center of the crossline reticle.
•
Limit the aperture to a value of about 0.2.
•
Rotate the Pol rotary stage until the specimen is almost invisible, i.e.
completely dark
.
•
Rotate the stage
once
(by 45°) so that the specimen is in a diagonal position (bright).
The interference intensity or color leads to the following conclusions:
−
If more or less strong interference colors appear on the specimen, the path difference ranges from
approximately 1/2
λ
to 5
λ
.
The suitable compensator is:
the
B 0-5
λ
tilting compensator
.
−
If the specimen-side color changes from light gray/white to a strong interference color when a lambda
compensator (473704-0000-000) is inserted in the compensator slot, the path difference is
(1/4 - 1/2)
λ
.
NOTE
A prerequisite for the occurrence of the color change effect may be the evaluation in two
specimen positions rotated at an angle of 90° from each other, plus a centered stage.
The suitable compensator is:
the
B 0-5
λ
tilting compensator
or the DE SENARMONT compensation method up to 1
λ
using the
546/4 nm Senarmont compensator
.
NOTE
The DE SENARMONT compensation method requires the use of the rotatable analyzer.
−
After insertion of the lambda compensator and rotation of the specimen by 90°, the interference color
remains white; in this case, however, it is a "higher-order white" and thus the path difference is > 5
λ
.
The suitable compensator is:
the
K 0-30
λ
tilting compensator
(Accessory 000000-1115-698)
−
A dark gray as the interference color indicates very small path differences (
λ
/10 or 54.6 nm).
•
Insert the compensator into the slot as far as it will go.
The accompanying instructions must be followed for the measurement preparation and procedure.