1. Sources and properties of light. Basic radiometric quantities.
2. Interaction of light with matter (tissue) – absorption, scattering, fluorescence. Behavior of light at material interfaces (refraction, reflection, Fresnel coefficients).
3. Basic principle of the light microscope, its parameters (spatial resolution, numerical aperture, depth of field) and diffraction-limited performance.
4. Description and characteristics of individual microscope components – stand, collector, condenser, objective, tube lens, eyepieces. Examples of microscopes from various manufacturers.
5. Upright and inverted microscopes; fluorescence microscope; dark-field; phase contrast; Nomarski differential interference contrast; Hoffman modulation contrast.
6. Laser confocal microscopy – principle of confocality, its effect on spatial resolution, and techniques for accelerating image acquisition.
7. Fluorescence confocal microscopy, two-photon and multiphoton microscopy.
8. Advanced microscopic techniques – TIRF, FRAP, FRET, holographic microscopy, light-sheet microscopy.
9. Super-resolution techniques – STED, STORM, PALM.
10. Electron absorption and emission spectroscopy.
11. Vibrational spectroscopy – infrared (FTIR) and Raman.
12. Electron microscopy – basic principles of TEM, SEM, STEM, and others.
13. Light detectors – point detectors (PMT, APD, HyD) and array detectors (CCD, iCCD, CMOS, sCMOS); parameters and properties.

As part of each laboratory assignment, students follow the instructions, evaluate and describe the measurement results, and discuss them with the instructor at the end. This gives them feedback and the opportunity to ask additional questions or deepen their understanding of the topic. The assignment topics are as follows:
1. Principles of the stereomicroscope – measuring resolution; verifying the influence of illumination and f-number on the scene.
2. Principle of the microscope – assembling a microscope on an optical bench; influence of illumination quality on resolution.
3. Construction of a fluorescence microscope – assembling a fluorescence microscope; measuring resolution; influence of objectives on image quality.
4. Diffraction and the principle of the spectrophotometer – using a diffraction grating in spectrophotometer construction; influence of the slit on spectral resolution.
5. Dark-field microscopy and phase contrast – studying the properties of dark-field and phase-contrast imaging, including basic image processing in Nikon NIS software.
6. Measurements in polarized light – verifying the principle of polarization and Malus’s law.
7. Fluorescence properties – working with spectrophotometers; verifying Kasha’s rule and the inner-filter effect.
8. Measurement of static properties of optical detectors – measuring the transfer characteristics of a photomultiplier tube and an avalanche photodiode.
9. Optical aberrations – practical measurements with a Hartmann–Shack aberrometer; eliminating spherical aberration; studying astigmatism.
10. Matrix representation of optical systems – basic principles and description of simple optical systems.