Microscopy: Polarization (Edward Salmon)

Polarization microscopy probes the interaction of molecules with polarized light and is particularly good for examining well-order structures composed of polymers, such as the mitotic spindle. This lecture describes the components of a polarization microscope (e.g. polarizer, analyzer), birefringence and how it is exploited to generate images, adjusting a polarization microscope, examples of images, and new methods such the LC-Polscope.