A Portable Miniature Microscope for Biomedical Applications

High-resolution optical microscope is a crucial imaging equipment in the field of Biomedical Sciences, drug analysis, field investigation and so on. However, the existing commercial microscopes are bulky, cumbersome and expensive, which are only operated by professionals in specific places such as laboratories and have a high threshold for use. In this study, we designed a miniature (20cmx20cmx16cm) lightweight (1.2 kg) low cost (700 USD) inverted optical microscope, the field of view is 0.48mm x 0.38mm, and the resolution can reach 2.19um, we seal the whole imaging system in a very small space, isolated dust and vapor interference from the outside to optical system, to ensure the quality of image and the stability of work. The internal objective lens can be finely focused on the z-axis electronically, ensuring that the microscope accurately focus samples of different thickness. At the same time, low price and stable performance allow small biological laboratories or field teams to use in a variety of harsh environments. In addition, we demonstrated the application of the microscope in different fields, such as imaging living cells in incubators and observing biological samples in the field. Therefore, this portable and economic microscope provides the basic functions of a bulky and expensive microscope at a low cost.