Electron Microscope

An electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses electrons to illuminate a specimen and create an enlarged image. Electron microscopes have much greater resolving power than light microscopes and can obtain much higher magnifications. Some electron microscopes can magnify specimens up to 2 million times, while the best light microscopes are limited to magnifications of 2000 times. Both electron and light microscopes create images with electromagnetic radiation, with their resolving power and magnification limited by the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation being used to obtain the image. The greater resolution and magnification of the electron microscope is due to the wavelength of an electron being much smaller than that of a light photon.

The electron microscope uses electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses in forming the image by controlling the electron beam to focus it at a specific plane relative to the specimen in a manner similar to how a light microscope uses glass lenses to focus light on or through a specimen to form an image.