This project uses the basic Pepper's Ghost arrangement to place an oscilloscope display inside the view of a microscope.
The oscilloscope is connected through its VGA output to a small 800 by 600 LCD. The display is mounted in a small Pepper's Ghost periscope, with a clear Perspex sheet positioned in front of the microscope screen.
The reflected oscilloscope display and the microscope image can then be seen at the same time. Numbers on the LCD were clear enough at 800 by 600 resolution, although it looked much better in real life than it did in the photos and videos.
I had two main problems with the first version.
The brightness of the microscope and the LCD were very different, which made it difficult to balance the two images.
The Perspex sheet also produced a double reflection because light reflected from both its front and rear surfaces. A thin glass beamsplitter or an antireflection coated plate would be a better solution.
I first tested it without any tint. Adding a car window tint film to the Perspex reduced the double image without disturbing the microscope view when the LCD backlight was off. My application of the tint was not very good, but it did the trick.
I also thought about adding a button to switch the LCD backlight on and off like a shutter.
Future ideas included a camera or microphone for interactive control, image processing to detect probe movement, sound detection for oscilloscope or multimeter clicks, showing the overlay only when a signal appears, a foot switch and even an eye tracking camera.
Pepper's Ghost:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper%27s_ghost
Videos without and with the tint film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS98zPfII9U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DZGLvnUHw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOC0OAr6bFE
Setup photos and videos below.
Photos and videos
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