New Optical Microscope

The MAE department at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) owns an inverted metallurgical optical microscope. The microscope is a Nikon Epiphot 200, which is still functional. The microscope, however, is old and finding replacement parts is increasingly difficult. This is especially problematic as Nikon no longer manufactures optical microscopes. To compliment and eventually replace the Nikon optical microscope, we seek a new inverted and/or metallurgical optical microscope. The new microscope will be used in the same way as the Nikon, primarily by students, but also by staff and faculty for their classwork and research. The microscope should be one that can image metallic, ceramic, polymeric, and composite samples. The microscope should also allow for imaging of mineralogical samples. It should come with software capable of both hardware control and imaging analysis. REFERENCE SOR ATTACHED.