• instrument that produces enlarged images of small objects, allowing the observer an exceedingly

close view of minute structures at a scale convenient for examination and analysis. Although optical
microscopes are the subject of this article, an image may also be enlarged by many other wave forms,
including acoustic, X-ray, or electron beam, and be received by direct or digital imaging or by a
combination of these methods. The microscope may provide a dynamic image (as with conventional
optical instruments) or one that is static (as with conventional scanning electron microscopes).
• The magnifying power of a microscope is an expression of the number of times the object being
examined appears to be enlarged and is a dimensionless ratio. It is usually expressed in the form
10× (for an image magnified 10-fold), sometimes wrongly spoken as “ten eks”—as though the ×
were an algebraic symbol—rather than the correct form, “ten times.” The resolution of a
microscope is a measure of the smallest detail of the object that can be observed. Resolution is
expressed in linear units, usually micrometres (μm).

• The most familiar type of microscope is the optical, or light, microscope, in which glass lenses are
used to form the image. Optical microscopes can be simple, consisting of a single lens, or
compound, consisting of several optical components in line. The hand magnifying glass can
magnify about 3 to 20×. Single-lensed simple microscopes can magnify up to 300×—and are
capable of revealing bacteria—while compound microscopes can magnify up to 2,000×. A simple
microscope can resolve below 1 micrometre (μm; one millionth of a metre); a compound
microscope can resolve down to about 0.2 μm.*

• Images of interest can be captured by photography through a microscope, a technique known as

photomicrography. From the 19th century this was done with film, but digital imaging is now
extensively used instead. Some digital microscopes have dispensed with an eyepiece and provide
images directly on the computer screen. This has given rise to a new series of low-cost digital
microscopes with a wide range of imaging possibilities, including time-lapse micrography, which has
brought previously complex and costly tasks within reach of the young or amateur microscopist
 History Of Optical Microscopes
The concept of magnification has long been known. About 1267 English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote in Perspectiva, “[We]
may number the smallest particles of dust and sand by reason of the greatness of the angle under which we may see them,”
and in 1538 Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro wrote in Homocentrica, “If anyone should look through two spectacle
glasses, one being superimposed on the other, he will see everything much larger.”

Three Dutch spectacle makers—Hans Jansen, his son Zacharias Jansen, and Hans Lippershey—have received credit for
inventing the compound microscope about 1590. The first portrayal of a microscope was drawn about 1631 in the Netherlands.
It was clearly of a compound microscope, with an eyepiece and an objective lens. This kind of instrument, which came to be
made of wood and cardboard, often adorned with polished fish skin, became increasingly popular in the mid-17th century and
was used by the English natural philosopher Robert Hooke to provide regular demonstrations for the new Royal Society. These
demonstrations commenced in 1663, and two years later Hooke published a folio volume titled Micrographia, which
introduced a wide range of microscopic views of familiar objects (fleas, lice, and nettles among them). In this book he coined
the term cell
 Magnification
It is instinctive, when one wishes to examine the details of an object, to bring it as near as possible
to the eye. The closer the object is to the eye, the larger the angle that it subtends at the eye,
and thus the larger the object appears. If an object is brought too close, however, the eye can no
longer form a clear image. The use of the magnifying lens between the observer and the object
enables the formation of a “virtual image” that can be viewed in comfort. To obtain the best
possible image, the magnifier should be placed directly in front of the eye. The object of interest
is then brought toward the eye until a clear image of the object is seen.
Without lenses, the highest possible magnification is when the object is brought to the closest

position at which a clear virtual image is observed. For many people, this image distance is about 25

cm (10 inches). As people age, the nearest point of distinct vision recedes to greater distances, thus

making a magnifier a useful adjunct to vision for older people.

The magnifying power, or extent to which the object being viewed appears enlarged, and the field of
view, or size of the object that can be viewed, are related by the geometry of the optical system.
 The Compound Microscope
The limitations on resolution (and therefore magnifying power) imposed by the constraints of a simple microscope
can be overcome by the use of a compound microscope, in which the image is relayed by two lens arrays. One of
them, the objective, has a short focal length and is placed close to the object being examined. It is used to form a
real image in the front focal plane of the second lens, the eyepiece or ocular. The eyepiece forms an enlarged virtual
image that can be viewed by the observer. The magnifying power of the compound microscope is the product of the
magnification of the objective lens and that of the eyepiece.

Optics
There are some obvious geometric limitations that apply to the design of microscope optics. The
attainable resolution, or the smallest distance at which two points can be seen as separate when
viewed through the microscope, is the first important property. This is generally set by the ability of
the eye to discern detail, as well as by the basic physics of image formation.
 Mechanical components
The microscope body tube separates the objective and the eyepiece and assures continuous alignment of the
optics. It is a standardized length, anthropometrically related to the distance between the height of a bench or
tabletop (on which the microscope stands) and the position of the seated observer’s eyes. It is typically fitted
with a rotating turret that permits objectives of different powers to be interchanged with the assurance that the
image position will be maintained. Traditionally, the length of the body tube has been defined as the distance
from the upper end of the objective to the eyepiece end of the tube.

The illumination system

The illumination system of the standard optical microscope is designed to transmit light through a
translucent object for viewing. In a modern microscope it consists of a light source, such as an
electric lamp or a light-emitting diode, and a lens system forming the condenser.
.
Image capture
The objectives described above are usually intended to project an image through an eyepiece for
direct viewing by an observer. The use of a photographic recording method permits the capture of a
real image in a film holder or digital imaging system without an eyepiece lens

The Theory Of Image Formation

The objective collects a fan of rays from each object point and images the ray bundle at the front focal plane of the eyepiece. The conventional
rules of ray tracing apply to the image formation. In the absence of aberration, geometric rays form a point image of each object point. In the
presence of aberrations, each object point is represented by an indistinct point. The eyepiece is designed to image the rays to a focal point at a
convenient distance for viewing the image. In this system, the brightness of the image is determined by the sizes of the apertures of the lenses and
by the aperture of the pupil of the eye. The focal length and resulting magnification of the objective should be chosen to attain the desired
resolution of the object at a size convenient for viewing through the eyepiece. Image formation in the microscope is complicated by diffraction and
interference that take place in the imaging system and by the requirement to use a light source that is imaged in the focal plane.

Convex Lenses are curved glass used to make microscopes (and glasses
etc.) Convex Lenses bend light and focus it in one spot.