electron microscope

American  

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.

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electron microscope British  

noun

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

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electron microscope Scientific  

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

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electron microscope Cultural  

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

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Etymology

Origin of electron microscope

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

However, when viewed with an electron microscope, the QR code can be clearly and reliably read.

From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026

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 • Aug. 13, 2025

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 • Mar. 4, 2025

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

From Science Magazine • Dec. 2, 2024

The Institute hired him to operate its electron microscope, which uses a beam of electrons to make images of small objects, such as viruses.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston