THREE-DIMENSIONAL STEREOSCOPIC MICROSCOPE

摘要

An apparatus for forming stereo image pairs comprises a set of perspective apertures within a perspective aperture plate, separated within a stereoscopic horizon by an inter-aperture distance. An offset aperture is disposed inside an illuminator of the apparatus. The offset aperture is positioned to form a cone of illumination that is mirror symmetrical with respect to the two perspective apertures. The perspective apertures are adjustable both in size and in their position within the aperture plate in order to position them with respect to a cone of light produced at the perspective aperture plate. The offset aperture is similarly adjustable in size and position. The arrangement ensures that light illuminating an object viewed using the apparatus has a narrow cone of direction and angle of incidence, which ameliorates negative effects that occur in stereoscopic systems with objective lens systems having large numerical apertures.

主权项

1. An apparatus for forming a stereoscopic image pair of an object comprising:
an objective lens disposed to collect light from the object, to direct a first portion of the light from the object to a first perspective aperture, and to direct a second portion of the light from the object to a second perspective aperture, a light-weighted center of the second perspective aperture separated from a light-weighted center of the first perspective aperture within a stereoscopic horizon by an inter-aperture distance; an illuminator disposed to illuminate the object, the illuminator comprising a light source, a collector to collect illuminating light from the light source and direct it to the object, and an offset aperture disposed between the collector and the object and configured to be positionable off the stereoscopic horizon to form a cone of illumination at a plane of the two perspective apertures substantially mirror symmetrical with respect to the first and second perspective apertures; and a stereoscopic imaging subsystem to form a first image in the stereoscopic image pair from light accepted through the first perspective aperture from the first portion of light and to form a second image in the stereoscopic image pair from light accepted through the second perspective aperture from the second portion of light.