A microscope small enough to fit on a fingertip has been developed by researchers in the United States. The new microscope has tiny dimensions. The instrument operates like a highly sophisticated pinhole camera and does not use lenses. Light passes through a series of holes, each less than one millionth of a metre in diameter, and a number of overlapping images are pieced together to create a precise two-dimensional picture. The technology combines traditional computer chip technology with microfluidics – the channelling of fluid flow at very small scales. An entire optofluidic microscope chip is about the size of a US quarter, though the part of the device that images objects is only the size of George Washington’s nose on the coin. Its creators say the instrument, which which has the magnifying power of a top quality lab bench microscope, could be mass produced for just £5. In the field, it could be used to analyse blood samples for malaria, or check water supplies for infectious organisms. “The whole thing is truly compact – it could be put in a mobile phone,” said Dr Changhuei Yang, who developed the microscope with colleagues at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “It can use just sunlight for illumination, which makes it very appealing for Third World applications. “Our research is motivated by the fact that microscopes have been around since the 16th century, and yet their basic design has undergone very little change and has proven prohibitively expensive to miniaturise.”The researchers said that in future, microscope chips could be incorporated into devices that are implanted into the human body.
Tags: Microscope
