World's Most Powerful Optical Microscope

[Eudoxia]

[QUOTE]

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3I3235fzjdE/TW7ffd1Y_rI/AAAAAAAAKi8/YzNQpgX6Ha8/s1600/bestmicroscope.jpg[/IMG]
Schematic of the transmission mode microsphere superlens integrated with a classical optical microscope. The spheres collect the near-field object information and form virtual images that can be captured by the conventional lens.

University of Manchester scientists have produced the world’s most powerful optical microscope, which could help understand the causes of many viruses and diseases.

[QUOTE]
Previously, the standard optical microscope can only see items around one micrometre – 0.001 millimetres – clearly.

But now, by combining an optical microscope with a transparent microsphere, dubbed the ‘microsphere nanoscope’, the Manchester researchers can see 20 times smaller – 50 nanometres (5 x 10^-8m) – under normal lights. This is beyond the theoretical limit of optical microscopy.

Not only have we been able to see items of 50 nanometers, we believe that is just the start and we will be able to see far smaller items.

“Theoretically, there is no limit on how small an object we will be able to see. [/QUOTE]

[URL=http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n3/full/ncomms1211.html]Nature Communications - Optical virtual imaging at 50 nm lateral resolution with a white-light nanoscope[/URL]
[QUOTE]

This hugely-increased capacity means the scientists, led by Professor Lin Li and Dr Zengbo Wang, could potentially examine the inside of human cells, and examine live viruses for the first time to potentially see what causes them.

The existing microscopes which have the capacity to examine tiny items – electron microscopes – can only see the surface of a cell rather than examining its structure and there is no tool to see a live virus visually.

The scientists, from the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, now believe they can use the microscope to detect far smaller images in the future. The new method has no theoretical limit in the size of feature that can be seen.

The new nano-imaging system is based on capturing optical, near-field virtual images, which are free from optical diffraction and amplifying them using a microsphere, a tiny spherical particle which is further relayed and amplified by a standard optical microscope.
Professor Li, who initiated and led the research in collaboration with academics at the National University and Data Storage Institute of Singapore, believes their research could prove to be an important development.

He said: “This is a world record in terms of how small an optical microscope can go by direct imaging under a light source covering the whole range of optical spectrum.

“Not only have we been able to see items of 50 nanometres, we believe that is just the start and we will be able to see far smaller items.

“Theoretically, there is no limit on how small an object we will be able to see.

“The common way of seeing tiny items presently is with an electron microscope, and even then you cannot see inside a cell – only the outside. Optical fluoresce microscopes can see inside the cells indirectly by dying them, but these dyes cannot penetrate viruses.

“Seeing inside a cell directly without dying and seeing living viruses directly could revolutionize the way cells are studied and allow us to examine closely viruses and biomedicine for the first time.”

Among other tiny objects the scientists will be able to examine are anodized aluminum oxide nano-structures, and nano-patterns on Blue-Ray CVC disks, not previously visible with an optical microscope.[/QUOTE]

[/QUOTE]

Source: [url]http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/worlds-most-powerful-optical-microscope.html[/url]

To illustrate, fifty nanometers:

[IMG]http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2057/nanometers.png[/IMG]

I love doodling around with that program :buddy:

[Ronin]

:science: Best thing ever.

[PyromanDan]

[QUOTE=BANNED USER;28392760]:science: Best thing ever.[/QUOTE]

Nice change of avatar, holy shit

Also, pretty amazing that they can see this kind of stuff with pure optics, not an electron microscope.

[Biotoxsin]

[quote]“Theoretically, there is no limit on how small an object we will be able to see."[/quote]

I beg to differ, *obligatory joke about someone's phallus*

[meppers]

what the fuck, you can see atoms through just a lens?

[OvB]

Man I bet that's a pain in the ass to focus. Hell I have a hard enough time chasing parameciums down with the crappy microscopes we have in the labs.

[i]"ah fuck where'd that little bitch go!"[/i]

[Andokool12]

[QUOTE=OvB;28393563]Man I bet that's a pain in the ass to focus. Hell I have a hard enough time chasing parameciums down with the crappy microscopes we have in the labs.

[i]"ah fuck where'd that little bitch go!"[/i][/QUOTE]

Obviously movement of the microscope would be much more precise and advanced.

[Zombini]

So, it's 2 microscopes in one? the Main Microscope sees the light that was amplified by the spheres? didn't know it was possible to go above 2000x zoom with an optical.

[OvB]

[QUOTE=Andokool12;28393757]Obviously movement of the microscope would be much more precise and advanced.[/QUOTE]

Computer controlled I'd hope.

[LunchboxOfDoom]

[IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/ibgjfo.jpg[/IMG]

It seems like I have to use this image every couple of days.

Nice to know we're making substantial progress with one of science's most basic instruments.

[Billiam]

It can see viruses?

Holy shit.

[SwissArmyKnife]

I swear Eudoxia and OvB are my prime sources of awesome scientific/oceanographic news.

[Da Jester]

Hezzy can finally touch himself.

[Aurora93]

[QUOTE=Billiam;28394180]It can see viruses?

Holy shit.[/QUOTE]

we've been able to take photos of viruses ever since the '30s

[Turnips5]

[QUOTE=Aurora93;28407680]we've been able to take photos of viruses ever since the '30s[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but this is through a totally different method.

[Biotoxsin]

[QUOTE=Aurora93;28407680]we've been able to take photos of viruses ever since the '30s[/QUOTE]

[img]http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/images/bacteriophage.jpg[/img]

Imagine being able to see this image more clearly, much closer. The image is hardly clear, there are great implications to this technologies development.

[Pelf]

I though viruses were so small that they didn't reflect visible light? :raise:

That's what my biology teacher told me anyway.

[Maucer]

[QUOTE=Pelf;28410234]I though viruses were so small that they didn't reflect visible light? :raise:

That's what my biology teacher told me anyway.[/QUOTE]

Well, you really can't see them because they're smaller than the regular light wavelength 350-700nm, but this invention somehow solves that problem.

[QUOTE=Biotoxsin;28408107][img_thumb]http://engineering.curiouscatblog.net/images/bacteriophage.jpg[/img_thumb]

Imagine being able to see this image more clearly, much closer. The image is hardly clear, there are great implications to this technologies development.[/QUOTE]

That's probably an electron microscope picture. The problem with them is that afaik you can't take pictures of living cells. Preparing the samples is hard (coat with gold ect) and they must be viewed in vacuum.