How to build your own "Twinkle" microscope

What is it about?

Microscopy allows us to see things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. We have developed a microscope, "Twinkle", that is particularly well suited to image in living plants and animals. Twinkle uses an effect, first described almost a hundred years ago by Maria Goeppert Mayer: Two photon absorption. This allows molecules in the plant or animal to absorb the energy of two photons, and to produce light in return. We use this so-called fluorescence to form an image. Using two photon imaging, one can see particularly well into scattering tissues (like the brain or the skin) that are not as transparent to other techniques. Our microscope is completely open. We describe in detail how to build it and have included the bill of materials, digital design files, optics simulation, and many pictures of our own building experiences. Twinkle stands for: TWo-photon Imaging in Neuroscience, and Kit for Learning and Education.

Featured Image

Photo by M.M. on Unsplash

Photo by M.M. on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Twinkle can serve as a research instrument, but also as a benchmark for other microscopes, and importantly as a teaching tool for the next generation of scientists.

Perspectives

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I hope that our article can also communicate the joy of creating something new with your own hands, and help in getting more students interested in precision science and optics.

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