Confocal scanning microscope having optical and scanning systems which provide a handheld imaging head

摘要

A confocal microscope having a scanning head in the form of a hand piece which may be placed at selected locations on the body of a patient. A laser beam is scanned in orthogonal (horizontal and vertical) directions by scanners which drive scan mirrors, which are closely adjacent to each other. The optics include an objective lens and a telescope lenses that image the objective lens entrance pupil between the scan mirrors. Scanner is a pulse driven resonant scanner which is feed back controlled to maintain scanning rate and can change the scan angle and obtain dynamic, electronic image zooming without changing the positional relationship of the telescope.

主权项

1. A scanning confocal microscope which comprises optics, including a fast scan oscillating mirror and a slow scan oscillating mirror, for directing an illuminating beam via a beamsplitter along a path to one of the fast scan oscillating minor and the slow scan oscillating mirror and then to the other of said fast and slow minors to provide a scanning beam in which said fast scan mirror oscillates to create a line scan of said beam, an objective lens having an entrance aperture via which said scanning beam is focused upon a specimen to an area thereof to be imaged and is returned to said mirrors for descanning, to provide return illumination from which a video signal is provided, said fast minor being part of a resonant scanner, and being a resonant scanning mirror having an operating resonant frequency, and said slow mirror being part of a galvanometer scanner, a frequency and phase control system responsive to the angular velocity of the fast scan mirror for providing drive pulses at a rate which drives said resonant scanner continuously at said operating resonant frequency notwithstanding changes in the actual mechanical resonant frequency of said scanner.