DIY Scanning Laser Microscope

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CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING 🥰 ☕Buy me a coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Breakingtaps 🔬Or Patreon if that's your jam: https://www.patreon.com/breakingtaps 📢Twitter: https://twitter.com/BreakingTaps 💻Discord: https://discord.gg/R45uCXcEv4 I built a 3D printed, scanning laser confocal microscope so I could collect 3D surface topology and profilometry data! The microscope stage is based on an OpenFlexure "Delta" stage, and the confocal optics are constructed with a 3D printed body, some lenses, a 405nm laser, pinhole and photodiode. The microscope is controlled by a Raspberry Pi (which controls an arduino to move the steppers). It's not beautiful, it takes forever to scan, and the images are of dubious quality... but it works! OpenFlexure: https://openflexure.org/ 0:00 Intro 1:56 Confocal vs Widefield Microscopy 3:25 OpenFlexure Motion Platform 4:01 Confocal optical breakdown 8:00 Delta motion stage 8:43 Photodiode amplifier 9:14 Confocal Pinhole demonstration 10:31 Camera vs Photodiode 11:31 Data processing considerations 14:05 Images and results! 18:22 Optimizations 21:37 Discord! Come hang out with us!