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Differential Polarization Microscopy: A New Imaging Technique

Bio/Technology volume 3, pages 711–714 (1985)Cite this article

Abstract

A new method of obtaining images from biological specimens is presented. It is based on the fact that the molecular anisotropy of the object can be exploited by using polarized incident light. If a difference image of the object is obtained by using two orthogonal polarizations, the resulting image is found to be a bi-dimensional mapping ot the object's amsotropy. A prototype of a microscope capable of generating these differential images has been constructed and the results as applied to the study of sickled red blood cells are presented. Future applications and the potentialities of this novel technique are discussed.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720

    William C. Mickols & Ignacio Tinoco Jr.

  2. Department of Chemistry, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131

    Carlos Bustamante

  3. Biology and Medicine Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720

    Marcos F. Maestre

  4. Hematology Division of the Medical Services, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco

    Stephen H. Embury

  5. the Northern California Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center,

    Stephen H. Embury

Authors
  1. William C. Mickols
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  2. Carlos Bustamante
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  3. Marcos F. Maestre
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  4. Ignacio Tinoco Jr.
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  5. Stephen H. Embury
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Mickols, W., Bustamante, C., Maestre, M. et al. Differential Polarization Microscopy: A New Imaging Technique. Nat Biotechnol 3, 711–714 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0885-711

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0885-711

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