Welcome to Epifluorescence Microscopes!

Epi-Fluorescence Microscopes .com is your source for equipment used for fluorescence microscopy.  We have both upright fluorescence microscopes and inverted fluorescence microscopes.  The upright models are used for viewing fluorescing specimens on glass microscope slides.  The inverted models have their microscope objectives facing up, and are used for viewing fluorescing specimens in the bottom of a petri dish, such as for researching tissue culture samples in cellular biology. 

Fluorescence microscopy differs from other microscopy methods in a variety of ways.  Normal brightfield microscopy in a high power microscope takes light and passes it through a thin specimen on a glass microscope slide.  Phase contrast microscopy begins with normal light, then shifts it out of phase and this phase shift is translated into a difference in viewing intensity.  Darkfield microscopy is an illumination technique where the biological specimen is illuminated from the sides instead of from the bottom. 

Fluorescence microscopy differs from all these techniques in that the visible light in the microscope eyepieces is not the original light emitted by the light source.  The light you see is actually light that has fluoresced from the fluorescing microscope specimen.  A high intensity light source is used.  This light is passed through an dichroic filter cube containing a fluorescence bandpass excitation filter.  Only specific wavelengths of light are allowed to pass and reach the fluorescence specimen.  After the incident filtered light reaches the specimen, it is no longer used, and any amount reflecting back into the microscope objective to the dichroic filter is filtered out by the emission filter.  The specimen fluoresces and it is this fluorescing light that passes back through the fluorescence emission filter and goes to the microscope eyepieces to provide a fluorescence image of the specimen.

The selection of these fluorescence excitation filters and fluorescence emission filters is critical to achieving the proper fluorescence image.  Different fluorescence specimens fluoresce at various wavelengths of light.  Our fluorescence microscopes come with several dichroic filters of various wavelengths.  If you need specialized custom made fluorescence filters, then we can provide that as well.  We work with two of the best names in fluorescence microscopy, Chroma and Omega.  Filters from these prestigious fluorescence filter companies will outperform standard fluorescence filters because they are custom made to your precise wavelength specifications and because they pass less undesired wavelengths.  It is recommended to review your fluorescing biological sample and the fluorescing stain.  For example, if you are using GFP, green fluorescence protein, that has a specific narrow light wavelength spectrum in which it will optically fluoresce.  Your fluorescence filters should match this wavelength spectrum for optimal imaging.  We are happy to work with you to ensure your fluorescence stain is matched to the correct fluorescence filters.  If our stock filters do not match the needed wavelength properly, we can assist you to obtain custom made filters for optimal imaging quality. 

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