Polarized Light Microscopy

Polarized light microscopy (PLM) is a contrast-enhancing technique which uses polarizing filters to make use of polarized light, which results in the generation of images of much greater quality than conventional light microscopy when investigating anisotropic materials. The technique has been leveraged by a wide range of industries such as geology, the fields of biology, medicine, and food science. It is commonly used to highlight the characteristic of various anisotropic samples including crystals, bone, fibers, and minerals.