The compound microscope has evolved from an instrument providing simple contrast viewing, into super-resolution systems capable of sub-diffraction accuracy. Its two platforms, upright and inverted, can be found in most laboratories doing cellular research, such as in biotech and pharmaceutical. Upright microscopes are used for viewing glass slides, and inverted for viewing live cells in Petri dishes. Despite its imaging advances, the basic architecture of the compound microscope has not substantially been modified in centuries.

This has now changed, with the recent release of the Revolve hybrid compound microscope, developed by Echo Laboratories (Echo), which has set a new precedent in microscope usability and design. The Revolve combines the full functionality of both upright and inverted microscopes in one instrument, and can switch between the two imaging modes relatively swiftly and easily. This gives the flexibility to view many types of samples with one microscope to a level of 300 350 nanometers resolution.

“More than 70 percent of labs end up having both inverted and upright microscopes,” said Jeff Huber, Director of Sales for Echo Laboratories. “But both uprights and inverts use similar objectives, illuminators, position systems and cameras. Why duplicate all of these expensive components? And why take up valuable lab space with two instruments? So, Echo Laboratories engineered a way to merge these two systems into one unified instrument, which is the Revolve microscope.”

Brightfield, Phase Contrast and Epifluorescence Imaging with iPad and Wireless Upload
his is a compound, infinity-path microscope, with applications for brightfield, phase contrast, and epi-fluorescence imaging. Current glass selection includes the entire line of Olympus objectives. Due to the unique nature of the upright/inverted combination, both a high-NA and long-working-distance transmitted-light condensers are available to support phase and brightfield. A high-accuracy locking mechanism is used to securely hold the condenser assembly in place, while still allowing for easy removal by a single lever.

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Featured Product: BM-8 Bench Top Vibration Isolation Platform

• Horizontal frequencies are weight dependent.
  
• Horizontal frequency of 1.5 Hz (or lower) is achieved at the upper limit of the payload range.
  
• At the lower limits of the payload range the horizontal frequency is approximately 2.5 Hz.
  
• Vertical frequency is tunable to 0.5 Hz throughout the payload range.
  

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Specifications (pdf)

Since the release of the first commercial atomic force microscope (AFM) about 30 years ago, technology advances have steadily been implemented to improve their performance. Now, the most recent advance in ambient-temperature AFMs is making them more compact, portable and user-friendly, which is enabled by Negative-Stiffness vibration isolation.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) has become one of the foremost tools for imaging and measuring materials and cells on the nanoscale. Revealing sample details at the atomic level, with resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, the AFM is instrumental for imaging an array of applications, such as defining surface characterizations, lithography, data storage, and manipulation of atoms and nano-sized structures on a variety of surfaces.

The AFM utilizes a sharp tip (probe) with a radius of curvature on the order of a few nanometers attached to the end of a tiny cantilever used to scan across a sample surface to image its topography and material properties. When the tip is brought into proximity of a sample surface, forces between the tip and the surface lead to a deflection of the cantilever. This deflection is recorded using, typically, a laser beam that is reflected from the top surface of the cantilever to a photo-sensitive detector. The resultant change of position of the cantilever/probe/tip permits characteristics such as mechanical, electrostatic, magnetic, chemical and other forces to be precisely measured by the AFM. These characteristics are displayed in a three-dimensional surface profile of the sample (in the X, Y and Z axes), an advantage that the AFM can provide compared to other microscopy techniques.

Although AFM technology has advanced considerably, its benefits have not always been easily accessible for researchers requiring AFM adaptability, portability. Nor have AFMs been adequately accessible in nanotechnology student laboratories, because of lack of student skill in their operation, and budget limitations on the number of AFMs at their disposal.

A More Portable, More User-Friendly AFM
These inhibitions have now been mitigated by a relatively new compact, portable and user-friendly ambient-temperature AFM. Developed by NanoMagnetics Instruments, a leading manufacturer of scanning probe microscopes for low-temperature applications, the ezAFM+ atomic force microscope is a benchtop instrument designed for short learning times, quick setup, and ease of transport.

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