Olympus SZX2-ILLC16 Coaxial Vertical Illuminator System

The Olympus SZX2-ILLC16 is a coaxial (vertical) illumination system for the Olympus SZX16 stereo zoom microscope. This listing includes the complete kit: the SZX2-ILLC16 coaxial illuminator with rotatable ¼ wave plate, a dual flexible fiber optic cable, and the LG-PS2 fiber optic illuminator light source. Coaxial illumination uses a half-mirror to align the illumination axis precisely with the optical axis of the microscope — light travels down through the objective, strikes the specimen surface perpendicularly, and reflects directly back up through the objective to the observer. This produces even, shadow-free illumination across the entire field of view, which is essential for inspecting flat, polished, or specular surfaces where angled illumination would create misleading directional shadows or glare. The integrated rotatable ¼ wave plate converts the coaxial illumination to circularly polarized light, which further suppresses specular reflections from highly reflective surfaces — revealing surface texture, scratches, contamination, and fine detail that would otherwise be obscured by glare. This unit is in excellent condition at a significant discount from the list price.