History Uncovered with High-Resolution Light Microscopy

Dr Olivier Schalm’s from the Department of Conservation Studies, University of Antwerp (Belgium), has been discovering the benefits of high-resolution light microscopy by using an Olympus DSX500 Opto-digital system which can provide true colour information at magnifications of up to 4,000x. Light microscopy is a popular analytical tool for cultural heritage researchers, gathering valuable information on the degradation of historic artefacts such as antique glass and daguerreotype photographic plates. Only by truly understanding the mechanisms of degradation can one develop and optimise techniques to control and slow the process, or restore an object to a past state. Such aims form the major focus of Dr Schalm’s research efforts.  

For investigations requiring greater resolution than possible with standard light microscopy, Dr Schalm would previously turn to SEM; unfortunately, high resolution and chemical composition data does come at the cost of colour information and spatial context. Dr Schalm discovered that the DSX500 provided a fast, efficient and accessible alternative to SEM and that in the great majority of cases, magnification above 4,000x was unnecessary.  

Product and Application Specialist for Materials Science Microscopy at Olympus, Markus Fabich said: “Although we designed and developed the Olympus Opto-digital series with industrial quality control in mind, Dr Schalm’s ground-breaking work has demonstrated just how flexible these systems really are, capable of extracting an incredible level of information from a diverse array of samples throughout a broad range of applications”. For both glass and metallic artefacts, the information revealed was rather unexpected, opening new avenues of exploration into the mechanisms underlying degradation.