Polarized light microscopy can mean any of a number of
optical microscopy
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
techniques involving
polarized light. Simple techniques include illumination of the sample with polarized light. Directly transmitted light can, optionally, be blocked with a polariser oriented at 90 degrees to the illumination. More complex microscopy techniques which take advantage of polarized light include
differential interference contrast microscopy and
interference reflection microscopy. Scientists will often use a device called a polarizing plate to convert natural light into polarized light.
These illumination techniques are most commonly used on
birefringent
Birefringence, also called double refraction, is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are described as birefring ...
samples where the polarized light interacts strongly with the sample and so generating contrast with the background. Polarized light microscopy is used extensively in
optical mineralogy
Optical mineralogy is the study of minerals and Rock (geology), rocks by measuring their optics, optical properties. Most commonly, rock and mineral samples are prepared as thin sections or grain mounts for study in the laboratory with a petrog ...
.
Although the invention of the polarizing microscope is typically attributed to
David Brewster
Sir David Brewster Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order, KH President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA Scot Fellow of the Scottish Society of ...
around 1815, Brewster clearly acknowledges the priority of
Henry Fox Talbot
William Henry Fox Talbot (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th c ...
, who published his work in 1834.
See also
*
Michel-Lévy interference colour chart
*
Petrographic microscope
References
{{Reflist
External links
Polarized light microscope(Université Paris Sud)
Geology
Optical microscopy techniques
Petrology