Going off of what this electron microscope manufacturer says on their website you can read a CD using an optical microscope and you can almost read a DVD.
The limit is apparently somewhere around 500nm and a DVD would need 400nm. So with a bit of optical enhancements it should be possible.
And if you have the ability to put a microscope and a camera into an almost perfect vacuum you probably can go even further (at least considering what e.g. ASML says for lithography with EUV)
Anyone know how to take pictures of UV light?
Kinda want to add a few UV LEDs to a microscope. And because you can't just look through it directly I'd need a camera that can "see" UV for me.
(Note, I'm talking at home "diy" science experiments here. So don't be surprised why I don't just use an electron microscope or something)
@agowa338 not to be nanny cow but please be careful if you fuck around with UV LEDs.
you ever get a sunburn on your cornea? you do not want to. and that's the good result.
@gloriouscow I want to get to 150nm resolution ultimately. And because of inefficiencies and quality loss I'd have to target something even smaller.
And from all I got so far this is just not possible with regular light.
Considering what I read about the resolution possible with green light, I may not even need UVA and can stay slightly above 400nm wavelength. Aka. blue light (But not sure if it will have sharp enough edges and not too much quality loss...)
For completeness, here is the source for the wavelength to theoretical max resolution calculation.
https://www.leica-microsystems.com/science-lab/life-science/microscope-resolution-concepts-factors-and-calculation/
Green light (514nm) can get at most to 177nm resolution. But as I'm not using the most expensive and most advanced factory equipment and intend to (try to) diy this thing I probably need to go with a smaller initial wavelength to reach anything close to that...
Klaus Frank
gloriouscow
