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DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 4:53 am
by microb
Hi,

Why are Edmund Optics and Thorlabs only offering Wollaston polarizers for DIC, and it is so hard to find Nomarski prisms? Are they actually selling Nomarski, but using Wollaston as the more general term?

Is it a manufacturing issue? Or are Wallaston less sensitive to the objective type so considered easier to set up? Olympus used to sell a DIC Nomarski prism in an adapter for BH microscopes, that was not the turret type that matched the objective magnification. Did that single prism adapter have magnification range limits? Otherwise there are the turret prisms: 20x, 40x, 80x prisms and the ULWD models. If I wanted to use Edmund Optics, would different ones need to be used for different magnifications?

Thanks.

https://www.edmundoptics.com/f/wollasto ... ers/14173/
https://www.thorlabs.com/newgrouppage9. ... oup_id=917


Reference on Nomarski:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomarski_prism

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 6:41 am
by 75RR
Do not think those Wollaston Polarizers are for DIC. I believe they have another use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollaston_prism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomarski_prism

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:07 am
by MichaelG.
Sorry, Bob: I cannot answer your question
But, thank you for that Wikipedia link, which in turn linked to this page
https://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/jav ... avefronts/
with its excellent tutorial ... that has improved my understanding.

MichaelG.

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:28 am
by microb
This video gives the part list for a modular microscope with DIC. But it didn't give the Nomarski prism part numbers. So I wrote them and they say that the Wollaston optics mentioned in the original post are for the DIC.

Here's the video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn1qj5qoMiI

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:36 am
by 75RR
I wonder how much "considerably less" is, given that a finite DIC system from the big 4 can be had for $3000 off the shelf viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7611#p67234 and less if one is patient enough to put one together from used parts.

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 12:35 pm
by apochronaut
Correct you are. Companies like to overemphasize the value of their products. For the tinkerer, the supply of PZO systems seem to continue; some N.O.S.
Padding the price of an off the shelf DIC microscope out to $30, $40,000 is true, if one includes multiple high end objectives but for a straightforward glorified shop mic. such as the one pictured with one objective, it is a bit like comparing a mule to a to a triple crown contestant.

Re: DIC Prisms

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 2:40 pm
by Sauerkraut
Thank you for this link. Very helpful. I wonder how prisms are glued together without causing optical aberrations from the adhesive. Or maybe it's a nonissue?

Heather