Optimization of an optical setup for combined TIRF/confocal fluorescence microscopy

This work deals with the construction of a microscope for combined total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) and confocal microscopy. It is especially designed for single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy. The design of the microscope body is based on the miCube (Hohlbein lab, Wageningen University, NL). The excitation and detection pathways were adapted to allow both TIRF and confocal illumination as well as camera and pointdetection for two color-channels to allow single-molecule Förster resonance transfer measurement