Modernising a Leitz Phase Contrast Microscope
High on the list of world changing, Nobel prize winning inventions that nobody has heard of is the phase contrast microscope . This microscope uses some tricks that exploit changes in refractive index within a sample, allowing you to see details of cells that you generally can’t see without staining. The problem with staining cells is that it kills whatever you apply it to. Phase contrast microscopy made it possible to observe processes in living cells and improved our understanding of cell biology. In general, a phase contrast microscope gives you a much better image if you just want to look at really small biological things. I recently got given a Leitz inverted microscope. Leitz is an old german company that has become Leica microsystems – those guys that make really expensive microscopes. The microscope was in very good condition, a bit of dust and a couple of missing parts. Here’s a diagram with the missing bits (if you want to know the working principles, try wikipedia). It seems that to get it working I’ll need a new lamp, a phase plate (phase annulus) a
