MICROSCOPE, SHEET-ILLUMINATION MICROSCOPE, AND MICROSCOPE-IMAGE ACQUIRING METHOD

摘要

In order to acquire clear images when different positions on a specimen in the direction of the optical axis of an illumination optical system are observed with a sheet illumination method, a microscope apparatus of the present invention includes: a detection optical system that detects fluorescence produced in a specimen immersed in a medium having a different refractive index from air and accommodated in a container and that acquires a fluorescence image; an illumination device that focuses excitation light emitted from an excitation-light source, in the form of a plane along a plane intersecting an optical axis of the detection optical system and that makes the planar excitation light incident on the specimen in the container; a driving unit that moves the specimen in the direction of the optical axis of a cylindrical lens; and an illumination control unit that adjusts the focal position of the illumination device on the basis of a movement amount of the specimen moved by the driving unit such that the air-equivalent length along the optical path of the excitation light from the illumination device to the optical axis of the detection optical system is maintained constant.

主权项

1. A microscope comprising:
a detection optical system that detects fluorescence produced in a specimen immersed in a medium having a different refractive index from air and accommodated in a container and that acquires a fluorescence image; a sheet-illumination optical system that focuses excitation light emitted from a light source, in the form of a plane along a plane intersecting the optical axis of the detection optical system and that makes the planar excitation light incident on the specimen in the container; a driving unit that moves the specimen in the direction of the optical axis of the sheet-illumination optical system; and a focal-position adjusting unit that adjusts a focal position of the sheet-illumination optical system so as not to be shifted from the position of the optical axis of the detection optical system, when the specimen is moved by the driving unit, thereby causing a change in the air-equivalent length along the optical path of the excitation light from the sheet-illumination optical system to the optical axis of the detection optical system.