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!

Image of a tartaric-acid crystal taken with polarization microscopy. Tartaric acid, a diprotic, aldaric carboxylic acid, is a naturally occurring organic compound notably found in grapes.

The Polarization Microscopy Principle

Polarization microscopy is routinely used in the material and earth sciences to identify materials and minerals on the basis of their characteristic refractive properties and colors. In biology,…

Fluorescence microscopy image of liver tissue where DNA in the nuclei are stained with Feulgen-pararosanilin and visualized with transmitted green light.

Epi-Illumination Fluorescence and Reflection-Contrast Microscopy

This article discusses the development of epi-illumination and reflection contrast for fluorescence microscopy concerning life-science applications. Much was done by the Ploem research group…

Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) Microscopy

This article demonstrates how differential interference contrast (DIC) can be actually better than brightfield illumination when using microscopy to image unstained biological specimens.

Image of MDCK (Madin-Darby canine kidney) cells taken with phase contrast.

Phase Contrast and Microscopy

This article explains phase contrast, an optical microscopy technique, which reveals fine details of unstained, transparent specimens that are difficult to see with common brightfield illumination.

Immersion Objectives

How an immersion objective, which has a liquid medium between it and the specimen being observed, helps increase the numerical aperture and microscope resolution is explained in this article.

When particulate contamination is present in lubricating fluids or oils, it can cause damage to parts or components leading to malfunctions.

Hydraulics in the Automotive and Aerospace Industries

Cleanliness standards relating to lubricants, hydraulic fluids, and oils, e.g., ISO 4406 and DIN 51455 are discussed in this article. Cleanliness plays a central role in the automotive and…

Studying Pulmonary Fibrosis

The results shown in this article demonstrate that fibrotic and non-fibrotic regions of collagen present in mouse lung tissue can be distinguished better with polarized light compared to brightfield.…

Factors to Consider When Selecting a Research Microscope

An optical microscope is often one of the central devices in a life-science research lab. It can be used for various applications which shed light on many scientific questions. Thereby the…

The Fundamentals and History of Fluorescence and Quantum Dots

At some point in your research and science career, you will no doubt come across fluorescence microscopy. This ubiquitous technique has transformed the way in which microscopists can image, tag and…