Properties of the polarized light microscope:
There are several properties of polarized light. Given below are few of them-
Stain Free Objectives:
Strain which gets add up inside the glass of an objective during assembly can produce spurious optical effects under polarized light, a factor that can compromise performance. Different objectives are designed for the polarized light observations in comparison to the ordinary objectives with the notation P, PO, or Pol on the barrel.
Centerable Revolving Nosepiece:
Because the position of the objective optical axis varies from one assembly to another, many polarized light microscopes are equipped with a special nosepiece that contains a focusing mechanism for individual objectives. This keeps every individual objective to be at the central position with respect to the stage and microscope optical axis which makes the specimen feature remain in the center of the view field when the stage is rotated at an angle of 360 degrees.
Eyepiece-
The position of the eyepiece of the polarized light microscope is kept with a cross wire retile to mark the center of the field of view. Often, the cross wire retile is substituted for a photomicrography retile which helps to focus the sample and the field of view to form images with a set of bounding frames that can be either digitally or captured on film. In the measurement of caf2 cylindrical lens focal length, custom laser optics and optical laser windows are used.
Compensator and Retardation Plates-
There is much polarized light microscope which has a slot in them to insert the retardation and/or compensator plates in between the crossed polarizers, which are used to highlight the optical path difference in the specimen. In modern times, there is a slot in the most modern microscope designs which is placed in either the microscope nosepiece or an intermediate tube located between the body and eyepiece tubes.
Stain Free condenser-
Along with the use of stain-free lenses, the consumers that are designed for the polarized light microscope have a lot of similar features. There is a top lens on the majority of the polarized light condensers that can be removed from the light path (a swing-lens condenser) to generate a nearly parallel illumination wavefront for low magnification and binocular observations.
Specialized stage-
Orientation with the center of the objectives coincides with a 360-degree circular rotating sample stage and the center of the stage rotation along the microscope optical axis to facilitate study, with the center of the field of view.
