A simple method allowing DIC imaging in conjunction with confocal microscopy

Abstract

Current optical methods to collect Nomarski differential interference contrast (DIC) or phase images with a transmitted light detector (TLD) in conjunction with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) can be technically challenging and inefficient. We describe for the first time a simple method that combines the use of the commercial product QPm (Iatia, Melbourne Australia) with brightfield images collected with the TLD of a CLSM, generating DIC, phase, Zernike phase, darkfield or Hoffman modulation contrast images. The brightfield images may be collected at the same time as the confocal images. This method also allows the calculation of contrast-enhanced images from archival data. The tec..