Editing Optical microscope (section)

===Digital microscope===
[[File:2008Computex DnI Award AnMo Dino-Lite Digital Microscope.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A miniature [[USB microscope]]]]
{{Main|Digital microscope}}
A digital microscope is a microscope equipped with a [[digital camera]] allowing observation of a sample via a [[computer]]. Microscopes can also be partly or wholly computer-controlled with various levels of automation. Digital microscopy allows greater analysis of a microscope image, for example, measurements of distances and areas and quantitation of a fluorescent or [[histology|histological]] stain.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Low-powered digital microscopes, [[USB microscope]]s, are also commercially available. These are essentially [[webcam]]s with a high-powered [[macro lens]] and generally do not use [[transillumination]]. The camera is attached directly to a computer's [[USB]] port to show the images directly on the monitor. They offer modest magnifications (up to about 200×) without the need to use eyepieces and at a very low cost. High-power illumination is usually provided by an [[LED]] source or sources adjacent to the camera lens.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Digital microscopy with very low light levels to avoid damage to vulnerable biological samples is available using sensitive [[photon counting|photon-counting]] digital cameras. It has been demonstrated that a light source providing pairs of [[Photon entanglement|entangled photons]] may minimize the risk of damage to the most light-sensitive samples. In this application of [[ghost imaging]] to photon-sparse microscopy, the sample is illuminated with infrared photons, each spatially correlated with an entangled partner in the visible band for efficient imaging by a photon-counting camera.<ref name="AspdenGemmell2015">{{cite journal|last1=Aspden|first1=Reuben S. |last2=Gemmell|first2=Nathan R. |last3=Morris|first3=Peter A. |last4=Tasca|first4=Daniel S. |last5=Mertens|first5=Lena |last6=Tanner|first6=Michael G. |last7=Kirkwood|first7=Robert A. |last8=Ruggeri|first8=Alessandro |last9=Tosi|first9=Alberto |last10=Boyd|first10=Robert W. |last11=Buller|first11=Gerald S. |last12=Hadfield |first12=Robert H. |last13=Padgett |first13=Miles J. |title=Photon-sparse microscopy: visible light imaging using infrared illumination |journal=Optica |volume=2 |issue=12 |year=2015 |pages=1049 |issn=2334-2536 |doi=10.1364/OPTICA.2.001049|bibcode=2015Optic...2.1049A |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/112219/1/112219.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604104215/http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/112219/1/112219.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-04 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref>