POLYFOCAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SURFACE PROFILE OF ANY GIVEN OBJECT

摘要

Confocal-microscopic arrangement and method for simultaneous representation of the surface profile (1) of any given object (2), specially to measure the surface profile (1) of teeth, comprising a light source (3) to illuminate the object (2), a lens (4) to focus the light signals (5) returning from the surface (1) of the object (2), a detector (6) picking up the light signals (5), and a processor (7) that digitizes and further processes the detected signals. Said method, which enables quick, reproducible scanning of the surface profile (1) by using as few devices as possible while ensuring at the same time a viable constructive size, is characterized by a beam output coupler (9) which is placed in the beam detection path (8) downstream from the lens (4) and upstream from the detector (6) to simultaneously couple out the light (10) returning from the various image planes, wherein the coupled-out light (11) is guided to the detector (6).