Ideally suited for imaging colorless and transparent biological specimens, HMC makes it possible to image active events in living cells with enhanced sharpness and definition. Our products can identify and classify stem cells in live cell observation and analysis systems.
The blending of Modulation Optics' technology with Navitar's industry experience enables us to be a valuable research and development partner with companies developing the next generation of live cell imaging systems. HMC technology can now be used in combination with Navitar's other illumination techniques such as DIC, Darkfield, Brightfield, and fluorescence, to achieve spectacular images.
Left: colony of cells courtesy Modulation Optics; center: "stripped" human oocyte courtesy RWJMS IVF Laboratory, released into the public domain by its author Ekem, under CC-BY-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons; right: photomicrograph of Hoffman Modulation Contrast image, courtesy Modulation Optics.
Hoffman Modulation Contrast
HMC consists of a unique filter, the modulator, in the objective and a special aperture. It is available as new standard equipment or for upgrading compound microscopes. HMC converts phase gradients into intensity variations, thereby making transparent specimens clear with vivid detail. The HMC system is a cost-effective upgrade for 3D-appearing imaging, for both inverted and upright compound light microscopes.
A brightfield compound light microscope is converted to HMC by adding three components:
