SAC™

Spherical aberration (SA) is the most serious monochromatic defect that occurs with microscope objectives. Indeed, SA is the limiting physics for most of 3-D microscopy. SA causes the image to appear blurry with less contrast. SA is generated when there is material with a different refractive index than the lens designer's specification between the front of the objective and the image plane. Typically, SA becomes more serious as one focuses deeper into samples.

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Intelligent Imaging Innovations and Infinity Photo-Optical Company has engineered a solution to this problem for infinity corrected optical microscopes. Motorized InFocus optics from Infinity are automatically set by SlideBook™ software to compensate for sample conditions that introduce spherical aberration. This system allows one to effectively collect 3-D data that is free of spherical aberration even if the optimal setting differs through the axial extent of the sample.

Click here to view Dr. Colin Monks' Optical Spherical Aberration Correction article as it appeared in the August issue of BIOforum, 2004.