Dark-Field Microscopy and Its Application to Pollen Tube Culture

Abstract

Although there are several methods to construct dark-field illumination, it is universal in dark-field microscopy that no light for illumination directly enters the light path of the objective lens (see Fig. 1A). Only the scattered light by the specimen enters the objective lens (see Fig. 1C). Specimen features thus appear bright on a dark background. When a powerful light source such as a mercury lamp is used for illumination, small objects can be detected even far below the resolution of light microscopy, as in fluorescence microscopy.