What Is Observation Equipment?
Observation equipment is a generic term for equipment used to observe the state or change of an object.
In general, it refers to instruments such as microscopes, used to observe the microscopic form and structure of the surface and interior of an object. It may also refer to equipment used to continuously or periodically observe changes in an object.
Types of Observation Instruments
The microscope is a typical observation instrument.
There are various types of microscopes, but the term microscope simply refers to an optical microscope that illuminates an object and observes a magnified image.
Optical microscopes are classified into two types: transmission microscopes (biological microscopes), which use illumination transmitted through a sample, and reflection microscopes (industrial microscopes), which use illumination reflected from a sample.
Fluorescence microscopes are used to observe the fluorescence emitted by a sample, measuring microscopes are used to measure the length and coordinates of an object, and laser microscopes, confocal microscopes, and shape analysis laser microscopes use laser beams as their light source. Binocular stereomicroscopes, which enable three-dimensional observation of an object, are also classified as optical microscopes, and are used for surgery and autopsies in the medical field and for assembly and inspection in the manufacturing field.
While optical microscopes use light to form magnified images, electron microscopes use electron beams to visualize finer structures than optical microscopes. X-ray microscopes, ultrasonic microscopes, and infrared microscopes use X-rays, ultrasound, and infrared rays to nondestructively observe not only the surface but also the internal structure of specimens, while CT scanners and X-ray CT systems are used to create 3D images from X-ray microscope images.
Unlike the above-mentioned microscopes, scanning probe microscopes use mechanical and electromagnetic interactions between the sample and the probe to observe the sample by tracing it with a needle-like thin probe. There are several types of scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) and atomic force microscopes (AFM), which are used for atomic-level observations in a wide range of fields.
Types of Observation Instruments
Microscopes are optical microscopes with digital camera functions. There are blood flow scopes, handheld scopes, fiberscopes, etc., and they are used for different purposes.