| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a light scanning confocal optical apparatus by which an object, such as a living body or the like, of low reflectance can be observed in a high S/N ratio. SOLUTION: A light source part 112, a light transmission part 114, a light scanning part 116, a plane-of-polarization modulation element 118, a polarization separation element 120, a light detection part 122 and a data processing part 124 are provided at this light scanning confocal optical apparatus. The plane-of- polarization modulation element 118 is, e.g. a quarter-wave plate, and it is arranged in front of the light scanning part 116. Since returned light from a face 126 to be inspected passes the quarter-wave plate 118 twice, it is changed into linearly polarized light in which a plane of polarization is turned by 90 deg. with reference to linearly polarized light emitted from the end face 142 if an optical fiber 136. The polarization separation element 120 is, e.g. a polarizer, it is arranged between an optical fiber 138 and the light detection part 122, and it selectively transmits only light having a plane of polarization at right angles to the end face 142 of the optical fiber 136.
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