Microscope Slides and Coverglass Recommendations

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Craig Gerard
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Microscope Slides and Coverglass Recommendations

Post by Craig Gerard »

Microscope Slides and Coverglass.

Anyone care to share their preferences regarding specific, preferred brands of microscope slides and coverslips?

A quick search reveals the quartz are expensive; but the German made 'clear white glass' with various finished edges and optional frosted ends are of high quality and affordable.
Clear white glass has many other names: water white, superwhite, pure white and super clear, but they all mean that the glass is clear and without any trace of colour.
Then there are coverslips.
made from clear, optically superior borosilicate, hydrolytic class 1. glass.
:?:

Craig
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g4lab
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Post by g4lab »

Don't for get to post links :D

Pau
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Post by Pau »

I've not experience with high end or special slides and coverglasses, but I think (just my opinion) that any standard good quality type would be equivalent except for some special uses like:
- Very high NA systems like those used in confocal microscopy or superresolution
- UV fluorescence, here the quartz ones must have beter UV transmission.
Again just my opinion, but I had got good quality image whith antique slides of different thickness
Pau

NikonUser
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Post by NikonUser »

Of course, if your objectives specify 0.17 mm thick cover glass then it would make sense to buy these instead of say #1's or #2's. 0.17=# 1.5.
Some objectives have a dial-in cover glass adjustment so you can use any of several different thicknesses.
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Charles Krebs
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Post by Charles Krebs »

Quartz is really meant for microscopy where high UV transmittance is crucial. No real reason at all to use it for the vast majority of the uses we see here. (It's refractive index is 1.46 as well, a little lower than glass).

If you are after high precision as far as thickness goes, then they are available.

http://www.us.schott.com/nexterion/engl ... slips.html

http://www.us.schott.com/nexterion/engl ... l8600b2#01

http://www.microscopy-news.com/news/new ... erior.html

With most cover slips there will be larger thickness variation in a "batch". If you will be doing some time consuming permanent mounts, where the subject is in contact with the slip, you might want to use a micrometer to find ones closest to 0.17.

With wet mounts some people choose #1 coverglass, with the thought being that the subject will nearly always be some distance from the cover. (But optical issues arise not only from "distance" but also from differences in refractive index of any medium between lens and subject).

The NA of the objective used is a huge factor. The design coverglass "target" is 0.17mm thickness. Naturally, the closer you are to that thickness the better. But at NA's of 0.40 or less, you can live comfortably with 0.15 to 0.19. At 0.65 you should keep it within 0.16 to 0.18. If I had a "dry" objective of 0.8 that I would want it as close as possible to spec. (But most high-end , "high dry" objectives have correction collars to accommodate variation in thickness to avoid serious spherical aberration.)

If you want to be a little obsessive, you can use a micrometer to go through a batch of coverslips and "sort" them into separate groups according to thickness variation. Then you can select based on the subjects and objectives you will likely be using.

g4lab
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Post by g4lab »

My understanding was that in "the olden days" quartz slides and cover slips scatter light less in darkfield than the regular glass products.

Of course now we are in modern times and the production processes for glass have probably made quartz unnecessary.

The cover slip micrometer was one of those lab bench accessories that you saw in the catalogs (and later on ebay ocassionally) but I can't say I ever saw one in person in any of the labs I have worked in. I have checked cover slips with a regular micrometer ocassionally but just for grins.

Craig Gerard
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Location: Australia

Post by Craig Gerard »

Thanks for the responses and the links :)

I was looking for a supplier in Australia; just to get some high quality specimen slides and coverglass on the way quickly. I made a small purchase online last night before reading your comments. I wasn't too far off-the-mark.

I ran into all the specifications and understood them to some extent: but I had little idea (apart from 0.17) about the #1 #1.5 #2 coverglass thickness designation until I read your responses. It has been an education :)

Coverglass
Standard thickness
No.0 ......... 0.08 - 0.12 mm
No.1 ......... 0.13 - 0.17 mm
No.1.5........ 0.16 - 0.19 mm
No.2 ......... 0.19 - 0.23 mm
No.3 ......... 0.28 - 0.32 mm
No.4 ......... 0.38 - 0.42 mm
No.5 ......... 0.50 - 0.60 mm
My initial coverglass purchase:
http://www.proscitech.com.au/cataloguex ... COVERGLASS
http://www.proscitech.com.au/cataloguex ... p?page=g2#

Regarding slides.
In the BHT manual, Olympus recommend a slide thickness of 0.8mm to 1.5mm for their LB objectives. 0.8mm to 1.2mm for use with a dedicated Darkfield condenser and also for DIC.

At the moment, my interests are in Brightfield and Darkfield.

These are the slides: (I purchased the G300B...just one box)
http://www.proscitech.com.au/cataloguex ... ge=g1#g300

As a result of your responses, I am now better informed and have some understanding of the requirements based on application and equipment specifications.

Now, I will have a closer look at the MarienFeld and the Schott range. 8)

MarienFeld distributors in Australia and New Zealand (I'm not certain if these links are current, wholesale or retail):
http://www.southerncrossscience.com.au/
http://www.grale.com.au/products/view/202
http://www.globalscience.co.nz/

The SCHOTT Nexterion® range (High performance grade) looks impressive also.
Most high power microscope objectives are designed for an optimal coverslip thickness of 0.17 mm. In the design of such lenses, the coverslip is included as the final part of the “imaging lens” contributing significantly to the image quality in bright field and fluorescence applications. Using thicker coverslip glass will introduce spherical aberration resulting in a loss of contrast and sharpness in the image. Unfortunately standard No.1½ (175 micron) coverslips have a very wide thickness tolerance range of plus-minus 15 to 20 microns. If the coverslip varies too much from the optimal thickness of 170 nm, it can cause an axial shift of the best focus, and significantly affect; spatial resolution (especially z-axis resolution) in confocal microscopes, contrast of both brightfield and fluorescent specimens, as well as reduced intensity in fluorescent imaging. Other problems with standard commercial coverslips include scratches and digs that create diffraction and stray light, as well as dirt and foreign particles that can directly affect image quality.
To address these issues SCHOTT offers high-performance "cleaned and inspected" Nexterion® coverslips. A special high performance thin borosilicate glass that has a guaranteed thickness variation of less than plus-minus five microns, was developed in collaboration with Carl Zeiss. Nexterion® coverslips made with this colorless borosilicate glass are available with, or without functionalised coatings.
*Note: My underline.

Where to buy SCHOTT Nexterion® in Australia? (possibly)
http://www.schott.com/australia/english/index.html ....A message to that address bounced me to this supplier:
http://www.inbio.com.au


Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

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