2x Metallurgical Objective (Tube 180mm)

[urbanpiper3]

Hello all,


I would like to purchase a reflected light 2x microscope objective. Olympus carries PLAN 2x objective for life-science applications (get a hot spot if you use it with reflected light) but not one for metallurgical use.

Please suggest me a good 2x microscope objective that I can use on my BXFM scope.

Cheers,
UP

[Scarodactyl]

Olympus has a 2.5x mplanapo objective. I tried it once, in my limited testing it was quite good (though that was with transmitted light).

[urbanpiper3]

Thank you @Scarodacctyl. I do have a 2.5x metallurgical objective as well from Olympus. It is a fantastic objective.

I am designing my own 2x Brightfield (Reflected) objective but have a hard time finding a off-the-shelf 2x objective lens for comparison.

I do have the Olympus PLAN 2x but it produces a bright hotspot in the center (not sure why I see a bright hotspot if I used a transmitted objective in a reflected mode).

[Scarodactyl]

You're often going to have that issue with low magnification lenses. Some makers add extra measures to compensate like quarter wave plates. The thorlabs 2x super apochromat works pretty nicely but it's a pretty different form factor.

[wabutter]

Any reflected objective of magnification less that 2x using coaxial illumination would need a contrast cap. Essentially a 1/4 lambda plate that is rotated to achieve the best contrast. This is also requires crossed polars in the illumination axis. With out these devices, contrast is seriously compromised and no amount of adjusting the apertures will compensate for it.