Leica Microsystems: Leica Science Lab

Science Lab

The knowledge portal of Leica Microsystems offers scientific research and teaching material on the subjects of microscopy. The content is designed to support beginners, experienced practitioners and scientists alike in their everyday work and experiments. Explore interactive tutorials and application notes, discover the basics of microscopy as well as high-end technologies – become part of the Science Lab community and share your expertise!

Object planes of the Greenough stereomicroscope with depth of field range.

Depth of Field in Microscopy

In microscopy, depth of field is often seen as an empirical parameter. In practice it is determined by the correlation between numerical aperture, resolution and magnification. For the best possible…

Cochlea implant. Illustration: © MED-EL.

Cochlea Implants for Deaf and Severely Hard of Hearing

The cochlea implant (CI) replaces the function of the outer ear, the middle ear and the cochlea of the inner ear. Basically, it consists of an external unit comprising a microphone, speech processor,…

New Standard in Electrophysiology and Deep Tissue Imaging

The function of nerve and muscle cells relies on ionic currents flowing through ion channels. These ion channels play a major role in cell physiology. One way to investigate ion channels is to use…

SPERM HY-LITER™ staining of a sexual assault smear slide which was performed by a forensic DNA crime laboratory.

Forensic Detection of Sperm from Sexual Assault Evidence

The impact of modern scientific methods on the analysis of crime scene evidence has dramatically changed many forensic sub-specialties. Arguably one of the most dramatic examples is the impact of…

Beware of "Empty" Magnification

This article explains how to avoid the phenomen of "empty magnification" in microscopy.

Quality as Clear as Glass - Polarizing Microscopy in Glass Production

An exquisite beverage deserves a high-quality glass. Even the ancient Romans made artistically crafted drinking glasses. In the Middle Ages, Venetian glassmakers were famous for the purity of their…

A portion of an early binocular microscope developed by John Leonhard Riddel in the early 1850s.

The History of Stereo Microscopy

This article gives an overview on the history of stereo microscopes. The development and evolution from handcrafted instruments (late 16th to mid-18th century) to mass produced ones the last 150…