by hubie on (#5YCSX)
upstart writes:Rotating blue laser light reveals unimagined dynamics in living cells:University of Freiburg scientists have employed a microscopy technique known as rotating coherent scattering (ROCS) to resolve cellular-level detail without the need to rely on fluorescence imaging. This means they can make "movies" to study the dynamics of cells because they take images at 100 frames per second. It uses a rapidly rotating blue laser beam, causing lightwaves to scatter at the structures of cells to generate images. They use blue laser light because objects as small as cells and viruses scatter much more light in the blue than in the red, allowing them to get "brighter" pictures. The laser is also directed in at an oblique angle to increase the contrast of the image, much as how you'd look for smudges on surfaces by looking at light reflected at low angles.