Varying an illumination path of a selective plane illumination microscopy

A system for illuminating a microscopy specimen, comprising:

• an illumination source configured to emit a light that travels along an illumination path to illuminate the microscopy specimen placed on an optical detection path of an optical microscope;
• and
• optical elements in the illumination path and configured to at least in part transform the light from the illumination source into a light sheet illuminating the microscopy specimen;
• wherein the optical elements include an electronically tunable lens configured to vary a focal distance of the electronically tunable lens to dynamically vary a position of a waist of the light sheet illuminating the microscopy specimen;
• and
• wherein the optical elements include a deflector configured to vertically move the light sheet to illuminate the microscopy specimen at different horizontal planes;
• and
• wherein the optical elements include an aspherical optical element, and the electronically tunable lens is positioned in the illumination path between the aspherical optical element and the deflector.