Olympus IX73 Microscope Lightpath

Olympus IX73 Microscope Lightpath - Java Tutorial 

This interactive tutorial explores illumination pathways in the Olympus IX73 research-level inverted microscope. The microscope drawing presented above illustrates a cut-away diagram of the Olympus IX73 microscope equipped with lamphouses for both diascopic and epi-fluorescence light sources. The fluorescence filter cube turret, housed underneath the nosepiece containing a set of objectives, is equipped with up to eight unique filter sets mounted in individual cubes.

The tutorial initializes in EPI illumination mode with the Beam Intensity slider set to a value of approximately 75 percent. An ultraviolet (excitation wavelength of 350 nanometers) interference filter set is positioned in the light path by default. To operate the tutorial, use the Beam Intensity slider to adjust the illumination intensity of either the fluorescence lamp (EPI mode) or the tungsten-halogen lamp (Transmission mode). 

In the EPI illumination mode, the Filter Cube slider can be employed to interchange filter sets in the rotating turret. As mentioned above, the default filter set is an ultraviolet excitation filter with an emission band centered in the blue region of the spectrum (450 nanometers). The currently selected excitation light color and wavelength maximum is presented to the right of the slider. Use the slider to toggle between any one of four different filter combinations:

• Ultraviolet Excitation (350 nanometers) - Blue Emission (450 nanometers)
• Blue Excitation (450 nanometers) - Green Emission (550 nanometers)
• Green Excitation (550 nanometers) - Yellow Emission (580 nanometers)
• Yellow Excitation (600 nanometers) - Red Emission (650 nanometers)

A pair of radio buttons located in the lower left-hand corner of the tutorial window can be utilized to toggle between EPI and Transmission illumination modes. When the Transmission mode is selected, the Filter Cube slider is inactivated, although visitors can still use the Beam Intensity slider to control the voltage and intensity of diascopic illumination through the microscope.