Using two photons for excitation improves the resolution of a fluorescence microscope because it suppresses this quantity. For 10 points each:
[10m] Analytical assays often report the ratio of “signal” to what measurement of an experiment’s random background fluctuations?
ANSWER: noise [or signal-to-noise ratio]
[10e] Noise is reduced because the photons used for excitation are in this region of the electromagnetic spectrum, which has slightly less energy and a longer wavelength than the visible light that’s emitted.
ANSWER: infrared [or IR; or near-infrared or near-IR]
[10h] Confocal microscopes instead reduce noise by shrinking this region of the sample that receives light. This region is “bright” or “dark” in the two main types of light microscopy.
ANSWER: field of view [or bright field or dark field microscopy]
<Adam Silverman, Science - Chemistry> ~20851~ <Editor: Adam Silverman>