In the 17th century Robert Hooke developed a compound
microscope, launching a wonderful journey. The impact of his
invention was immediate; in the same century microscopy
gave name to "cells" and imaged living bacteria. Since then
microscopy has been the witness and subject of numerous
scientific discoveries, serving as a constant companion in
humans' quest to understand life and the world at the small
end of the universe's scale.
Microscopy is one of the most exciting fields in optics, as its
variety applies principles of interference, diffraction, and
polarization. It persists in pushing the boundaries of imaging
limits. For example, life sciences in need of nanometer
resolution recently broke the diffraction limit. These new
super-resolution techniques helped name microscopy the
method of the year by Nature Methods in 2008.
Microscopy will critically change over the next few decades.
Historically, microscopy was designed for visual imaging;
however, enormous recent progress (in detectors, light
sources, actuators, etc.) allows the easing of visual
constrains, providing new opportunities. I am excited to
witness microscopy's path toward both integrated, digital
systems and nanoscopy.
This Field Guide has three major aims: (1) to give a brief
overview of concepts used in microscopy; (2) to present major
microscopy principles and implementations; and (3) to point
to some recent microscopy trends. While many presented
topics deserve a much broader description, the hope is that
this Field Guide will be a useful reference in everyday
microscopy work and a starting point for further study.
I would like to express my special thanks to my colleague
here at Rice University, Mark Pierce, for his crucial advice
throughout the writing process and his tremendous help in
acquiring microscopy images.
This Field Guide is dedicated to my family: my wife, Dorota,
and my daughters, Antonina and Karolina.
Tomasz Tkaczyk
Rice University