Microscope autofocus system
AssigneeWarner Lambert Technologies, Inc.
InventorRichard J. Chaban
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An autofocus mechanism for a microscope comprises an arrangement of optical elements aligned along a single optical path. The arrangement includes a single illumination source which provides both a viewing component and a positioning component. Included in the autofocus arrangement are optical elements to eccentrically reference the positioning component for determining the focus condition of the instrument. The autofocus arrangement also includes a detector for determining the degree of eccentricity of the measuring ray and to make adjustments in the microscope according to this eccentricity to bring the viewed object into focus.
Claims18
An arrangement for automatically focusing a microscope being used to view an object which comprises in sequence along a single optical axis:
- an illumination source providing light having a first component and a second component;
- a collector;
- an aperture stop;
- a filter positioned at said aperture stop to confine said first component to a portion of said aperture;
- a field stop;
- an occluder positioned at said field stop, said occluder providing an index of said first component on one side of said optical axis and being transparent to said second component;
- means for imaging said occluder on the object from where said index is transferred to the other side of said optical axis;
- a microscope objective spaced from said object;
- means to establish a predetermined reference for said index corresponding to a focused condition for said microscope;
- means for detecting the variation of said index from said predetermined reference and generating an error signal in response to the variation;
- and
- means associated with said detecting means for adjusting the spacing between said microscope objective and the object to minimize the error signal for focusing the microscope.
An arrangement for automatically focusing a microscope being used to view an object which comprises in sequence along a single optical axis:
- an illumination source having a visible component and an invisible component and optically coupled with an offset elliptical reflector to provide increased energy to the light beamed along the optical path of said optical axis;
- a collector;
- an aperture stop;
- a filter positioned at said aperture stop to confine said invisible component to a portion of said aperture;
- a field stop;
- an occluder positioned at said field stop, said occluder providing an index of invisible light on one side of said optical axis and being transparent to the remaining light;
- means comprising a microscope objective spaced from said object for imaging said occluder on the object from where said index is reflected onto the other side of said optical axis;
- means to establish a predetermined reference for said index corresponding to a focused condition for the microscope;
- means for detecting the variation of said index from said predetermined reference and generating an error signal in response to the variation;
- and
- means associated with said detecting means for adjusting the spacing between said microscope objective and the object to minimize the error signal for focusing the microscope.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.