THE FIRST RIFE MICROSCOPE AND THE GAINED
ABILITY TO OBSERVE VIRUSES AND THE FINE STRUCTURE OF BACTERIA WITH AN OPTICAL MICROSCOPE BY THE
OVERCOMING OF THE FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION LIMIT
by Gary Wade,
physicist Date: 9/12/14
Introduction
This is my
second article on the Rife type microscopes, which have the ability to see the
fine structure of bacteria and viruses in living medium with visible
light, because Dr. Royal Raymond Rife found a way to overcome the Fraunhofer diffraction limit. He did this by using the Principle of
Reversibility in optics in a new and novel way.
In my first article, Appendix A of another
paper I wrote, I went over in some
detail the pertinent unique details of Rife type microscopes that make them so
special and unsurpassed to this day in magnification and resolution ability
with crystal clear clarity of image.(ref.1)
In this article I am going to review some of the important points
discussed in Appendix A, but I am going to mainly focus on the construction of
Dr. Rife’s first microscope build in 1920, which was
able to reach 17,000 power magnification (ref. 2). Dr. Rife had INVENTED A NEW METHOD TO MAGNIFY an object by
greatly expanding the cross sectional area of a central region of a nearly
focused image (converging beam) from a objective lens
about its optical axis. This new form of
magnification in conjunction with Dr, Rife’s novel
method to suppress and essentially eliminate Fraunhofer
diffraction phenomenon and the fact that he found a way to also effectively
eliminate chromatic aberration, gave the Rife Microscope unsurpassed
magnification, size resolution, and crystal clear clarity of vision that no
other optical microscope has even come
close to.
Intention of Article
My
intention here is to write a clear and concise enough article so that the
optical engineers, scientists, and students will see how relatively easy it is
to build these Rife type microscopes with today’s materials technology, machining
technology, and opto-electronics availability. From this realization, then have universities
and microscope manufactures start building a new class of world class optical research
microscopes. This will or should trigger
a research revolution in microbiology and virology. However, it is not only microbiology and
virology that need Rife type microscopes for rapid detailed research
results. With today’s boom in
nanotechnology, micro composite materials technology, and semiconductor
devices, there is a great need for a fast accurate way to observe down to the
few angstrom resolution level. The
properly designed and built Rife type microscope can do this.
Physical Layout of the First Rife Microscope
Now that you have been made aware of why
you should want to know more about the specifics of the Rife microscope, let us
get to it. Pictures 1, 2, and 3 are of Rife’s first microscope.
I know of no published plans or specifications for Dr. Rife’s first microscope.
So, my writings here about Rife’s first
microscope are based upon what I can observe and deduce from what I can see
from what appears in Pictures 1, 2, and 3 and other pictures and various news
paper articles and journal articles and magazine articles, and from what I know
of optics (ref. 3,4,5). Some very useful
clues and information of the internal construction of the first microscope can
be gained from an article on Dr. Rife’s third
microscope, 50,000 power (see Picture 4), which was published in February 1944
issue of The Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 237, titled THE NEW
MICROSCOPES, A Discussion by R. E. SEIDEL, M.D, AND M. ELIZABETH WINTER , pages 103 to 130.
The same article was also published in the Annual Report of the Board of
Regents of The Smithsonian Institution. That is how important they thought it was. This third microscope called, THE UNIVERSAL
MICROSCOPE, was designed not only to observe microbes at here to fore
unbelievable magnification and size resolution with crystal clear clarity, but
was also designed to do microbe dissection (nano-
surgery) and collection/abstraction from the environment down to virus size
structures. It was also designed to do
ultra detailed studies of crystal structures.
Picture 1 shows the
setup using the first Rife microscope used by Dr. Rife to make motion pictures
of microbes going about their normal life processes. The rectangular box
looking device in front of the microscope eye piece is the motion picture camera. The eye piece of the microscope is the same
(matched pair) as the objective lens system of the microscope, except there is
an adjustable outer sliding coupler shroud on the lens system needed to couple
the camera to it and the eye piece is oriented in the opposite direction to the
objective lens system. Picture 2 shows an
enlargement of a section of picture 1, where the various components have been
given numbers so as to be able to name, describe, and explain what that part
(number) does.
(1) - Full spectrum mercury arc lamp system with
spherical back mirror and front convex lens.
(2) - Optics take full spectrum white light from
mercury arc lamp (1) and make it into a thin rod shaped beam of light for the Risley prisms to work with.
(3) - Two Risley prisms
back to back to spread the very narrow white light beam into a broad rainbow
spectrum of light that the diaphragm (4) can choke down to a narrow continuous
band of frequencies/wavelengths.
(4) - Adjustable diaphragm to help choose only a
narrow band of the light frequencies or wavelength window/range wanted for
Illumination of the specimen.
(5) - Observation mounting stage for positioning
and holding specimens to be observed.
(6) - One of two objective lens systems available
in the set up shown and is a matched pair to the eye piece (12) being used with
it.
(7) - One of two objective lens systems available
in the set up shown and is a matched pair to the eye pieces (11) being used
with it.
(8) - A cylindrical optical assembly machined out
of magnelium, which contains six identical bi-convex lens all equally spaced apart with all their optical axis
coincident with each other. The entire
lens assembly is immersed in glycerine (see Figure 6) with two
quartz windows on the ends to contain the glycerin inside the cylindrical
enclosure.
(9) - Hollow tube upon which an eye piece is
mounted when microscope is being used for filming, so as to see what is being
filmed or just observing without filming.
(10)
- A partial
mirror beam splitter designed to reflect part of the objective collected light
at right angles up the tube (9) to an eye piece (not shown in the picture, see picture 3) to see
what the camera is filming.
(11)
- A different
power eye piece, a matched pair, the same lens system used in the objective
lens system (7).
(12)
- Microscope
eyepiece, part of a matched pair, the same lens system used in the objective
lens system (6).
(13)
- Sliding
adjustable outer shroud on eye piece (12) needed to couple the camera to the
eye piece.
Classical Optics Review of the Source of the Fraunhofer Diffraction Limit
To
understand how the magnification and resolving power of the Rife microscope can
go beyond that of the commonly used optical microscope, it is necessary to
understand the cause of the magnification and resolving power limitations of
the ordinary optical microscope. Figure 1 shows the
simplest form of a microscope. The
object (1) for the objective lens has its image (2) as the object for the
eyepiece lens. This object (2) has a
final real image formed on the eye retina (4) by the combined lens system of
the eyepiece lens and eye lens. And
finally, the brain interprets the real image (4) as coming from a virtual
object (3). From the point of view of
geometrical optics alone, the objective and eyepiece of Figure 1 can each be
replaced with lens combinations to give unlimited magnification. However, due to diffraction phenomenon,
namely Fraunhofer diffraction, and lens aberration
phenomenon there is a practical limit to useful magnification. From theory and experiment it has been found
that Fraunhofer diffraction phenomenon is usually by
far the dominant limiting factor in determining the resolution ability of a
lens system to form an image in currently used microscopes. Figure 2 shows a plano convex lens which has two
objects, O and O’. From these the lens
form images I and I’
are formed in Figure 2 using only geometrical optics
principles. Note that O and O’ are
represented by small black dots.
Further, note that Figure
2 is a symbolic diagram and therefore the white background could be
replaced by black and the black lines and curves could be replaced by any
color, yellow for example. The symbolic
information contained in the Figure would remain the same. Now let O and O’ be sources of yellow
light. I and I’ will now be yellow
dots. Let the diameter (size) of the
yellow light sources O and O’ become smaller and smaller. The diameter of the images I and I’ will, by
geometrical optics principles, also become smaller and smaller. In fact, by geometrical optics principles, as
the diameters of O and O’ go to zero so will the diameters of I and I’. However,
due to Fraunhofer diffraction phenomenon as the
diameters of O and O’ go to zero, the diameters of the images I and I’ converge
to a finite non zero size. In fact the images I and I’ of point (zero
diameter) light sources O and O’ are concentric light and dark zones as
qualitatively illustrated in Figure 3. The light intensity pattern produced in space
as illustrated in Figure 3 is that found along any line passing through the center
of I (or I’) and at right angles to the shortest line segment joining I (or I’)
and O (or O’).
So looking
back at Figure 2
we see that if the distance s between the two point (zero diameter) light sources
O and O’ becomes small enough, their images I and I’ will begin to
overlap. This means that any two self
luminous point light sources O and O’ located on an object of interest (the
specimen) can not be observed independently unless they are far enough apart so
that the center bright zone of their Fraunofer
diffraction patterns do not appreciably overlap. In optics the standard derived relationship
between s, w, n, and i for the lens of Figure 2 is:
S = (1.22 w) / 2n sin i
; Equation 1.
Where s is the minimum separation between O and O’
where they are just resolved, w is the wavelength of light used, n is the index
of refraction of the medium between O (or O’) and the lens surface, and i is the angle as indicated in Figure 2. Substituting appropriate values of w, n, and i into Equation 1, for commonly used high power optical
microscopes, gives values for s of around 2,000 Angstroms or .2 microns, which
is significantly larger than the mean
radius of viruses in general. However,
this .2 micron resolution limit is still too optimistic when other distortion
effects of lens systems are taken into account.
The minimum resolving distance given by Equation 1 does not explicitly
contain the diameter (D) of the lens.
However, direct examination of Figure 2 clearly
shows how i is dependent on
D. It is now evident that no matter how
much the eyepiece lens magnifies the object (2) of Figure 1, the
corresponding size resolution in the final virtual image (3) can be no better
than approximately .2 microns.
How Dr. Rife Suppressed the Fraunhofer
Diffraction Limitations in Optical Microscopes
Rife found
a way to overcome or suppress the Fraunhofer
diffraction limitation, that enabled him to build a microscope that could see
viruses and the fine details of bacterial structures that currently used microscopes
can not see at all. What Rife did was to
apply the Principle of Reversibility in a new and novel way. The Principle of Reversibility states: If a reflected or refracted ray is reversed
in direction, it will retrace its original path. This principle has more than a purely
geometrical foundation, and can be shown to follow from the application of
corresponding mechanics principles to wave motion. In other words diffraction phenomenon (wave
phenomenon) is also undone by reversing the path of the light ray (effectively
time reversal). In Figure 4 we see a equiconvex lens which has formed
the image I, in space, from a point light source object O. As indicated, the image I is not a point but
has the form of concentric light and dark zones just as in Figure 3. Now by the Principle of Reversibility, if the
diffraction pattern image I of Figure 4, which is
formed in space, not on a screen, is sent back through the equiconvex
lens (effectively time reversal), the original point image O will be formed,
not the normally found diffraction pattern image from a point light source,
such as in Figure 3. Note again that, the diffraction pattern image
of Figure 4 is formed in space not on a screen.
The diffraction pattern image that is being sent back through the lens
is effectively a time reversal of light “image”. It is not light back scattered from and image
formed on a material screen. Now
consider Figure 5
which shows a compound lens objective as used in a high power optical
microscope being used to form an image I in space, not on a screen, of a point
light source O. As with the single lens
objective a point image will not be formed.
Instead a Fraunhofer diffraction pattern will
be formed as shown. For simplicity the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern shown is that of a single lens, however the actual pattern would be a composite of the
separate Fraunhofer diffraction patterns from the
three lens in the system. The actual
pattern would qualitatively be the same as shown, a strong central light disk,
known as the Airy’s disk, surrounded by faint darker
and lighter concentric zones. And just
as before, if the diffraction pattern image formed in space not on a screen
were sent back through the objective lens system a light point image would be
formed, not a diffraction pattern image.
WHAT RIFE APPARENTLY REALIZED WAS THAT TO A GOOD FIRST
APPROXIMATION HE COULD ESSENTIALLY ELIMINATE FRAUNHOFER DIFFRACTION PHENOMENON
AND ACHIEVE HIGH MAGNIFICATION BY USING A EYEPIECE THAT WAS EXACTLY LIKE THE
OBJECTIVE USED (MATCHED PAIR), BUT INSTALLING IT IN THE OPPOSITE ORIENTATION
(BACKWARDS) TO THAT OF THE OBJECTIVE, WHILE CONCURRENTLY INSERTING AN OPTICALLY
SYMMERTIC LIGHT BEAM EXPANDING (MAGNIFYING) OPTICAL ASSEMBLY BETWEEN THE
EYEPIECE AND OBJECTIVE (SEE FIGURE 6).
A news
paper article, I uncovered in my research that had no date or publication
name, indicates there are probably 6 lens in the cylindrical
center section of the microscope between the objective and eyepiece, with these
lens being immersed in glycerine. The lens configuration probably used six
identical double convex normally converging quartz lens,
when used in air, equally spaced apart with the space between the lens filled
with glycerine as shown in Figure 6. Since the glycerine
has a slightly larger index of refraction (1.473) than quartz (1.46), the
immersed double convex normally converging positive lens when used in air can
be/are converted to diverging / negative lens making light rays traveling
parallel or slightly converging, but nearly parallel rays, entering the lens
along the optical axis leave the lens slightly diverging as illustrated in Figure 7A. Figure 7A illustrates qualitatively the light
ray paths occurring at the beginning of the optical assembly of spherically
convex surfaces of the beam expanding optically symmetric assembly shown in Figure 6. Figures 7A and 7B illustrate how the beam of light from the
objective IS EXPANDED IN SUCH A WAY THAT ONLY LIGHT RAYS THAT
ARE VERY CLOSE AND NEARLY PARALLEL TO THE OPTICAL AXIS OF THE ENTERING
CONVERGING BEAM REACH THE EYEPIECE ENTRANCE.
Note that just before the converging beam from the
objective lens system comes to its focal point to form an image, it
encounters the interface between the
lens material medium and the glycerine medium at the
spherically convex lens surface. THIS
CONVERGING BEAM IS CENTERED ON THE OPTICAL AXIS OF THE SHHERICAL SURFACE OF THE
FIRST CONVEX LENS IN THE ASSEMBLY. Upon crossing the spherically convex
interface the converging beam is starting to be converted into a diverging
(expanding) beam about its center axis.
As the beam leaves the second surface of the first double convex lens in
the assembly, it is now a diverging beam.
As this now diverging beam passes through each additional spherically
convex surface the central portion of the beam is again expanded about its
axial center, the optical axis of the lens assembly. Only a very small fraction of the expanded
light beam from each lens reaches the next lens in the assembly in such a way
that it will have both further cross sectional expansion or magnification and
still reach the last lens in the assembly.
It is this greatly expanded (“magnified”) very small portion of the
original beam which is focused down into an “image” by the eyepiece. Of course the optical axis of all the convex lens must coincide as closely as possible
with each other. It is only a very small
fraction of the spherical surface area of the equiconvex
lens that is centered about the optical axis of the lens system that processes
the light that will actually reach the eyepiece to form an image. That portion of the expanded light beam
leaving the convex surface of the last lens and entering the eyepiece lens
system needs to have approximately the same divergence (time reversed
convergence) angle as the converging light beam leaving the objective lens
system. When the expanded portion of the
original beam is focused down into an “image” it still contains the Fraunhofer diffraction pattern structure obtained from its
passage through the objective lens system.
However, the eyepiece, which is identical as possible (matched pair) to
the objective lens system, but installed in the opposite orientation, produces
a Fraunhofer diffraction pattern structure which to a
first approximation undoes essentially all of the original Fraunhofer
diffraction pattern introduced by the objective lens system (Principle of
Reversibility). What is obtained is a
non inverted image with crystal clear clarity and very high resolution mainly
limited by the resolving power of the human eye or camera electro-optics used.
Discussion of the Optics of the First Rife Microscope
We will now
discuss the optics of this first Rife microscope in more detail (see Figure 8) and then
follow up with a modern version which can now be built. The light condenser section of the microscope
consists of elements (1) through (4).
These concentrate the light from the mercury arc lamp (2) into an
intense converging beam of light which is directed onto lens (5). Lens (5) turns the intense converging light
beam into a thin pencil shaped parallel beam which is directed to the center of
the first Risley prism (6). There are two Risley
prisms back to back. The Risley prism, which consists of two counter-rotating
circular thin prism wedges, separates the intense pencil of light into a fan
shaped spectrum. Once the angle of incidence
of the pencil of light to the plane of the Risley
prism is held fixed, the angular width and orientation of the spectrum is then
determined by the relative angle of rotation between the two prisms (the
effective vertex angle of the Risley prism). A small portion of wavelengths of this
spectrum falls across the variable diameter circular opening of the diaphragm
(7). The settings of the Risley prisms determines the exact wavelength of the light
that goes through the center line of the diaphragm and the diameter of the
diaphragm aperture determines the spread in wavelength values that goes through
the diaphragm with the central chosen wavelength. Lens (8) focuses the chosen wavelength and
its associated spread in wave lengths down into an intense spot of light just
under the specimen located on the quartz slide on microscope stage (9). The microscope objective (10) acts as a
normal microscope objective. However,
note that in the original Rife microscopes the various lens
making up the objective lens system are not color corrected. They were all constructed of block
quartz. This will be discussed further
on in the text. The refracted light leaving
objective (10) has a very small angle of convergence (approximately one to two
degrees). When this refracted light
enters the lens system (11) its angle of convergence is converted into an angle
of divergence do to the change in index of refraction at the convex lens
face. As the beam of light from the
objective transits the central lens system of the microscope, it is expanded in
diameter about the principal center ray (optical axis). The diverging and expanded light beam exiting
from the convex lens face of the last convex lens then enters the matched pair
eyepiece (13) with a divergence angle similar to the time reversal angle of
convergence of the light beam from the objective and by the Principle of
Reversibility essentially all Fraunhofer diffraction
phenomenon from the objective lens system is undone and a final image is formed
essentially free of all Fraunhofer diffraction
phenomenon. Note that the partial mirror
(12) used for viewing with the eye and locating what is being photographed,
slightly offsets or displaces the path of the central optical axis of the now
diverging light beam or cone and the designers and machinists must offset the
eyepiece optical axis to coincide with the optical axis of the diverging light
cone. Alternatively a counter balanced
rotating partial mirror could be used where video camera picture grab time
could be synced with partial mirror positioning/location.
Overcoming Chromatic Aberration Phenomenon and No
Longer a Need for Microbe Stains
So far we
have discussed only diffraction phenomenon as the major limiting factor in the
resolving power and therefore the determining factor in the useful
magnification of an object. There is
another problem of chromatic aberration (see Figure 9), which Dr.
Rife had to overcome to achieve the required spatial resolution to see
viruses. Figures 9, and 10
illustrate the problem normal lens have in standard high powered optical
microscopes when it comes to forming a sharp image of a multicolored
object. Figure 9 illustrates how the
index of refraction changes with color (wavelength) and therefore the focal
point changes with color. The practical
consequences of this changing index of refraction with color, is illustrated in
Figure 10. The same object, if viewed in different
colors, would have different image locations and magnification. Figure 11 shows a cemented doublet made
up of a positive equi-convex lens made of crown glass
and a negative concave-plano lens made of flint
glass. The power of the equi-convex lens is larger in magnitude than the magnitude
of the negative power of the concave-plano lens and
therefore the combination has a overall positive
power. The possibility of color
correction by this combination comes from the fact that dispersions produced by
different kinds of glass are not proportional in the deviations they
produce. Figure 12 shows
three different standard type microscope objectives
which use the above discussed color correction.
However, Rife chose not to use this color correction technique in the
objective/eyepiece lens systems of his microscopes. Instead he only used quartz lenses in his
objective/eyepiece lens systems (examples show in Figure 13. He was able to get away with non-corrected
lenses because when he found the solution to another common problem in
microbiology observations with a light microscope, he found he did not need
color correction in general. That other
common problem is one of making the specimen (bacteria or viruses in Rife’s case) clearly visible. Normally dyes/stains are used to stain
bacteria (now dead bacteria after the staining process) to make them clearly
visible and identifiable. When it comes
to viruses this technique is generally unusable, because of
dye pigment size of some stains and other considerations. Rife found that invariably when he looked at
any bacterium or virus with his microscope he could always find at least one
narrow band of wavelengths of light that made the bacterium or virus luminesce and or fluoresce.
Furthermore, the luminescent and or florescent color (narrow band of
wavelengths) of the bacterium or virus was unique, just as the wavelength that
made it luminesce and or fluoresce. IN OTHER WORDS, RIFE HAD FOUND
A Modernized Version of the First Rife Microscope
Figure 14 is what a
modernized version of a Rife microscope modeled after Rife’s
first microscope could look like. This
microscope could be built by any present day university using a good optical
ray tracing program to design what you want once you understand the principles
upon which the Rife type microscope are based.
Then you would need the mechanical engineers to figure out how to
fixture the lens in the system using material that have essentially the same coefficients
of expansion and contraction as the lens material being used (i.e. with quartz
you would use the metal alloy magnelium) (ref. page
119). The cost of this microscope would
be much less then the cost of a good research electron microscope.
The advantages of the Rife microscope over the
electron microscope are:
(1) - Much shorter sample preparation and set up time
for both biological and inanimate objects.
(2) - The sample (bacterium or virus) is seen in
its natural environment, not distorted/destroyed by the sample preparation
procedure and observation processes (high energy electron bombardment). A similar statement would hold true for nano technology material.
(3) - With the large number of protein and compound
specific fluorescent molecular tags available currently, the Rife type
microscope used in conjunction with ultra high speed and synchronized
Q-switched (shuttered) tunable laser sources could make slow-motion high
resolution (under 50 angstroms) motion pictures or videos of a multitude of
cellular processes. (The use of high
quality color corrected lens is potentially being assumed here)
(4) - It is far cheaper to run and maintain and
takes up much less space.
(5) - Many medical conditions and diseases whose cause are currently unknown, would be quickly and
definitively shown to be pathogenic in nature.
Just as Rife discovered in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The electron microscope is far to time
consumptive per sample and has serious data interpretation problems.
What the actual limits of resolution and therefore effective useful
magnification will be for the modern Rife type microscopes is not known. However, there is every reason to believe
that it can easily surpass that of the best currently available electron
microscopes.
Conclusion
The here to fore thought Fraunhofer
diffraction limit, which limits currently designed and used optical microscopes
to a resolution size in the range of .2 microns and useful magnification to
around 3,000 power can and was greatly overcame by the First Rife Microscope
constructed in 1920 and by the four other Rife Microscopes built by Dr. Rife
(ref. 6).
There is a great need today for Rife type microscopes in microbiology,
virology, material science technology, nanotechnology, and micro
electronics. These needs could and
should be met by the construction of modern production versions of Rife type
microscopes.
As of the writing of this article, Dr. Rife is (2014 – 1920 = 94) years
ahead of his time and counting. I am
sure Dr. Rife would want us to catch up.
He attempted to get us caught up by putting his third microscope (50,000
power) on long term loan to the California Institute of Technology back in the
mid 1950’s, but Cal Tech dropped the ball.
Several generations have passed now, so perhaps the current generation
can pick up the ball and carry it across the goal line to bring us all the
fruits of a revolution/renaissance in microbiology, virology, nanotechnology,
materials technology, and micro electronics.
HOME WORK PROBLEM FOR THE BRIGHT ONES
In Figure Z
below is shown a Rife type microscope system where a matched pair of objective
and eyepiece lens systems are being used in conjunction with a single machined
block of quartz or clear sapphire (hidden from view by partition). Determine a machined shape of all surfaces,
relative orientation, and dimensions of the machined block to obtain 500,000
power magnification, with
5 angstrom resolution. Be sure to
precisely define the surface of both the entrance and exit ports for the light
going from the objective into the block and going to the eyepiece. Assume focal length of objective lens is .2
meters with a convergence angle of 2 degrees and the objective lens is 250 power. HINT: Use whatever wavelength of light you want
that is compatible with optical materials used throughout the optical system. You will use total internal reflection inside
the machined block to cut down on (stop) light intensity loss and you are
allowed to use one normal mirror surface (i.e. silver deposited on
machined/polished plane surface).
References:
1)
http://www.rifeenergymedicine.com/garywadearticles.html
2)
L. A. Times,
November 21, 1931
3)
L. A. Times Magazine, December 27, 1931, page 15
4)
What Has Become of the Rife Microscope by Christopher
Bird, New Age Journal,
5)
http://rifevideos.com/
6)
Rife Videos . com, Your Rife Machine History Education Website.
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