SYSTEM FOR CONFOCAL ILLUMINATION OF A SAMPLE

摘要

A system for confocal observation of a sample, having a mask, which is arranged in both an illumination beam path and in an image beam path and which is rotatable around a central axis, openings arranged in a pinhole plane, an arrangement of focusing micro-optics aligned with the geometric arrangement of the openings of the mask to generate a focal pattern, and an optical assembly with an objective, and which is configured to image the focal pattern onto the sample for generating an illumination pattern moving across the sample and to collect light from the sample by the objective and to image it onto the openings of the mask for confocal filtering. The focal plane and pinhole plane are separated by a distance and the optical assembly has a path length difference compensation arrangement which is selective with regard to the illumination light and the light collected from the sample.

主权项

1. A system for confocal observation of a sample, comprising:
a mask which is arranged in both an illumination beam path and in an image beam path and which is rotatable around a central axis, the mask comprising openings arranged in a geometric arrangement in a pinhole plane, an arrangement of focusing micro-optics aligned with the geometric arrangement of the openings of the mask so as to focus the illumination light by each of the micro-optics in a focal plane in order to generate a focal pattern there, and an optical assembly comprising an objective configured to image the focal pattern onto the sample for generating an illumination pattern moving across the sample and to collect light from the sample by the objective and to image it onto the openings of the mask for confocal filtering, wherein the focal plane and the pinhole plane are separated by a distance from each other and wherein the optical assembly comprises a path length difference compensation arrangement which is selective with regard to the illumination light and the light collected from the sample so as to compensate for the path length difference between the location of the focal plane of the micro-lenses and the location of the pinhole plane for the light collected from the sample.