electron microscope

noun

1. a microscope of extremely high power that uses beams of electrons focused by magnetic lenses instead of rays of light, the magnified image being formed on a fluorescent screen or recorded on a photographic plate: its magnification is substantially greater than that of any optical microscope.

electron microscope

noun

1. a powerful type of microscope that uses electrons, rather than light, and electron lenses to produce a magnified image

electron microscope

1. A microscope that produces images of extremely small objects by using beams of electrons rather than visible light. Since electrons have a much shorter wavelength than light, the use of electron beams rather than light beams can resolve much finer structural details in the sample. Electrons are beamed at the sample and focused by magnets; a detector then converts the refracted or reflected beams into a black and white image.

2. See also scanning electron microscope

electron microscope

1. A device that uses electrons instead of light to form images of very small objects, such as individual parts of small living things.

Word History and Origins

Origin of electron microscope¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Mamta spoke about different acids, explaining that distinctions could be made using an electron microscope - something not possible in a post-mortem room.

From BBC

"Yes and I hope so," says associate professor Dr Franklin Nobrega as we look at images of my phage captured with an electron microscope.

From BBC

Whatever process occurred to do this preserved the original brain tissue so well that individual neurons can actually be seen using a scanning electron microscope.

From Salon

The researchers got another surprise when they looked at the shells under a scanning electron microscope.

From Science Daily

Using an electron microscope, she noticed evenly spaced small pearls about 200 nanometers in diameter along the mouse axons.

From Science Magazine