By Jan Barghaan, Strategic Marketing Manager Life Science, Olympus Europa

No, not fireworks — it’s actually a single colony of Gloeotrichia. While this is an extreme example, can you really trust your images? The answer may depend on your objectives.

Objectives are arguably the most important microscope components; you could even think of them as the heart of the system. Not only are they responsible for primary image formation, but they have significant influence over raw image quality. When we consider that improved image quality leads to more meaningful data, the importance of quality objectives is clear.

There are three key areas to optical performance: image flatness, numerical aperture (NA), and chromatic correction. While image flatness determines the uniformity and clarity of an image throughout the field of view, NA is a measure of an objective’s ability to gather light, which improves resolution and brightness. Finally, chromatic correction determines the lenses’ ability to focus different wavelengths of light on the same spot, thereby escaping chromatic aberration.

Until recently, objective optical performance has been limited by a trade-off between these three key areas. Not anymore.

Olympus’ innovative manufacturing technique used to create X Line objectives has ushered in the production of ultrathin lenses, allowing more lenses to be packed into each objective housing. This results in simultaneous improvement of all three key performance areas and enables acquisition of high-resolution, high-quality images over a much larger field of view.

See the truth with Olympus X Line high-performance objectives. They not only enhance the power of various microscopy techniques—ranging from brightfield to fluorescence, TIRF, and super resolution—but provide greater access to more meaningful data across a wide range of applications.

Learn More
 

Sponsored content by Olympus Life Science