CTMM · interactive explainer

Inside confocal microscopy

Follow the light path, adjust the pinhole and compare optical sections with widefield images.

Sample planes and optical section: illustrative schematic

Educational laboratory with a synthetic specimen. Adjust fluorophore, objective, pinhole and focal plane; follow scanning and build a z projection. The images are qualitative and the optical estimates are teaching approximations without instrument calibration.

From light to interpretation

Select the plane

Learn how the pinhole reduces out-of-focus fluorescence and why closing it also reduces the signal.

Compare the images

Change focus and aperture to compare widefield images, confocal sections and maximum-intensity projections.

Examine the limits

Explore research applications and the controls needed to interpret markers, colocalization and quantification.

References

Carl Zeiss: Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy · Dunn et al., 2011 · ARRIVE 2.0