Olympus UMPLFLN 20X Water Immersion (Dipping) Microscope Objective (NA 0.50, Infinity)

The Olympus UMPLFLN 20XW Water Immersion Objective (N2667600) is a high-performance biological objective designed for imaging living cells and tissues in aqueous environments. Water immersion objectives are essential for biological microscopy because they eliminate the refractive index mismatch between the objective and aqueous specimens, providing superior image quality, reduced spherical aberration, and improved light transmission compared to dry objectives when imaging in water or physiological media.

The 20× magnification and 0.50 numerical aperture provide an optimal balance between field of view and resolution, making this objective ideal for surveying tissue sections, imaging cell cultures, and examining larger cellular structures while maintaining sufficient resolution to visualize subcellular details. This magnification is particularly valuable in neuroscience, developmental biology, and cell biology where researchers need to observe multiple cells or tissue regions simultaneously.

The 3.5mm working distance provides generous clearance for accommodating standard coverslips and enables deep tissue penetration in thick specimens such as brain slices, organotypic cultures, and tissue explants. This extended working distance is critical for electrophysiology experiments where microelectrodes or patch pipettes must access cells while maintaining optical observation.

The Plan Fluor (UMPLFLN) optical design incorporates fluorite glass elements that provide excellent chromatic aberration correction across the visible spectrum (400–700 nm). This correction is essential for fluorescence microscopy where multiple fluorophores with different emission wavelengths are imaged simultaneously. The flat-field (Plan) correction ensures sharp focus across the entire field of view, eliminating the need to refocus when examining features at different positions in the field.

Water immersion objectives offer significant advantages over oil immersion for live-cell imaging and long-term time-lapse experiments. Water is non-toxic to cells, evaporates cleanly without residue, and maintains physiological conditions. The refractive index of water (n=1.33) closely matches that of aqueous biological specimens, minimizing spherical aberration when imaging deep into tissue.

The infinity-corrected optical design is compatible with Olympus BX (upright), CX (compact), and IX (inverted) series microscopes, enabling integration with fluorescence filter cubes, DIC optics, and camera systems for advanced imaging workflows.

The RMS thread mount ensures compatibility with standard Olympus biological microscope nosepieces.