What You Will Learn in This Chapter
This chapter outlines a basic and introductory understanding of the light, its behavior, and its interaction with matter. A definition of light is noted, as well as a description of the particle and wave properties, and the polarization, refraction, reflection, diffraction, and absorption of light. The diffraction limit and optical light filtering have been discussed with respect to microscopy. This chapter provides an introduction education into the underlining fundamental physics to which all microscopy is built upon.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Roychoudhuri C, Creath K, Kracklauer A. The nature of light. 1st ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2008.
Greenberger D, Hentschel K, Weinert F. Compendium of quantum physics. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer; 2009.
Ananthaswamy A. Through two doors at once. 1st ed. Richmond: Duckworth; 2020.
Egerton R. Physical principles of electron microscopy. 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer; 2018.
Murphy D, Spring K, Fellers T, Davidson W. Principles of birefringence, Nikon’s MicroscopyU. [Online]. https://www.microscopyu.com/techniques/polarized-light/principles-of-birefringence (2022).
Kokhanovsky A. Light scattering reviews. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer Praxis Books; 2006.
Baker E. New perspectives in biological crystallography. IUCrJ. 2014;1(2):82–3.
Silfies J, Schwartz S, Davidson M. The diffraction barrier in optical microscopy. Nikon’s MicroscopyU. [Online]. https://www.microscopyu.com/techniques/super-resolution/the-diffraction-barrier-in-optical-microscopy (2022)
Jing Y, Zhang C, Yu B, Lin D, Qu J. Super-resolution microscopy: shedding new light on in vivo imaging. Front Chem. 2021;9:795767.
Chen X, Zheng B, Liu H. Optical and digital microscopic imaging techniques and applications in pathology. Anal Cell Pathol. 2011;34(1–2):5–18.
Zhang H, Salo D, Kim D, Komarov S, Tai Y, Berezin M. Penetration depth of photons in biological tissues from hyperspectral imaging in shortwave infrared in transmission and reflection geometries. J Biomed Opt. 2016;21(12):126006.
Rubart M. Two-photon microscopy of cells and tissue. Circ Res. 2004;95(12):1154–66.
Lichtman J, Conchello J. Fluorescence microscopy. Nat Methods. 2005;2(12):910–9.
Further Reading
Giusfredi G. Physical optics. 1st ed. Cham, Switzerland: Springer; 2019.
Rossing T, Chiaverina C. Light science. 2nd ed. Cham, Switzerland: Springer; 2019.
Shaw M. Your microscope hobby: how to make multi-colored filters. 1st ed. Scotts Valley: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2015.
Weiner J, Ho P. Light matter interactions. 1st ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2007.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Monks, J.N. (2022). The Physical Principles of Light Propagation and Light–Matter Interactions. In: Nechyporuk-Zloy, V. (eds) Principles of Light Microscopy: From Basic to Advanced . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04477-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04477-9_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-04476-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-04477-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)