Laser scan confocal microscope

Abstract

Fluorescence is generated from an irradiated point on an inspection surface of a sample and the fluorescence is collected by an objective lens. Here, because of the magnification chromatic aberration of the objective lens 86, the fluorescence going out from the objective lens travels along a path shifted from the irradiation light and changed substantially into a non-scan light by a galvano-scanner. The fluorescence passes through a dichroic mirror and comes into deflection means as 2-dimensional deflection means after light of unnecessary wavelength is removed by a filter. The deflection means is driven in synchronization with the galvano-scanner by a computer and corrects the shift and inclination of the optical axis generated by the magnification chromatic aberration of the objective lens. After the shift and inclination of the optical axis are corrected, the fluorescence forms an image of the irradiation point of the inspection surface of the sample on a pin hole of a pin hole plate by using a collective lens. Thus, it is possible to provide a laser scan confocal microscope capable of correcting the peripheral light reduced by the magnification chromatic aberration by using an optical system even if the used objective lens has the magnification chromatic aberration.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.