Here's a Physics-Stackexchange answer with a little more detail i support: You can go higher but it won't help you because you won't see more. https://physics

Here's a Physics-Stackexchange answer with a little more detail i support: You can go higher but it won't help you because you won't see more. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/38146/optical-microscope-magnification-limits https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/38146/optical-mi... > ... > So for violet light λ=405nm, and good lens with oil immersion (NA=1.25), you can have resolution 197nm. > So, in conclusion, optical microscopes are limited to ~x1500 because going any further does not resolve smaller details. The comments below the answer add additional details. Related Wikipedia article (Diffraction-limited system): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction-limited_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction-limited_system There are various "tricks" to achieve more -- "Super-resolution microscopy" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-resolution_microscopy > Super-resolution microscopy is a series of techniques in optical microscopy that allow such images to have resolutions higher than those imposed by the diffraction limit.