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DataRay Inc. - ISO 11146-Compliant Laser Beam Profilers

Lasers Break an Optical Barrier

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Dan Drollette

A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry broke the theoretical minimum for resolution by a focusing light microscope. More than 100 years ago, Ernst Abbe laid down the law that the wave nature of light limits the smallest resolvable spot size to one-third of a wavelength in diameter, or approximately 200 nm. He predicted that any features smaller than this must always be blurred by diffraction and hence be indistinguishable by focusing light microscopes. Although focusing light microscopes are good for imaging transparent specimens in three...Read full article

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    Published: October 1999
    Basic ScienceMicroscopyResearch & TechnologyTech Pulse

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