Structured illumination microscope, structured illumination method, and program

A structured illumination method comprising:

• (a) illuminating a specimen with illumination light from a spatial light modulator;
• (b) applying a voltage pattern having a predetermined voltage value distribution to the spatial light modulator;
• (c) forming a first image of the specimen;
• (d) generating a second image by imaging the first image formed in (c);
• and
• (e) generating a demodulated image using a plurality of the second images, wherein
• in (b), plural image generation voltage patterns for generating plural of the demodulated images are applied in a first period,
• a burn-in prevention voltage pattern for preventing burn-in generated by the plural image generation voltage patterns is applied in a second period different from the first period, and
• a number of times the burn-in prevention voltage pattern is applied is less than a number of times the plural image generation voltage patterns are applied.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the steps of:

• (a) illuminating a specimen with illumination light from a spatial light modulator;
• (b) applying a voltage pattern having a predetermined voltage value distribution to the spatial light modulator;
• (c) forming a first image of the specimen;
• (d) generating a second image by imaging the first image formed in (c);
• and
• (e) generating a demodulated image using a plurality of the second images, wherein
• in (b), plural image generation voltage patterns for generating plural of the demodulated images are applied in a first period,
• a burn-in prevention voltage pattern for preventing burn-in generated by the plural image generation voltage patterns is applied in a second period different from the first period, and
• a number of times the burn-in prevention voltage pattern is applied is less than a number of times the plural image generation voltage patterns are applied.