Last year we had to borrow an expensive reflecting microscope for the "Jugend forscht"-projects entitled "Graphene" and "Little Spheres - Center Stage". Such reflecting microscopes usually cost 10 000 € or more and therefore schools cannot afford them. Therefore I aim to build a digital reflecting microscope for my school for 200 to 300 €.
My low cost microscope consists of an objective, a semitransparent mirror, a light source and a webcam. In an initial experiment I showed that it is possible to build a functioning reflecting microscope from these parts. I have improved my microscope step by step until I was able to record decent images of graphene, photonic crystals and other microscale objects.