US 5,038,258 AGranted

Illuminating arrangement for illuminating an object with incident light

AssigneeCarl-Zeiss-Stiftung

InventorsKlaus-Peter Koch, Reinhard Prinz

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Abstract

The invention relates to an illuminating arrangement for illuminating an object with incident light wherein the angle of the incident light is selectable. The illuminating arrangement includes a plurality of individual light sources which can be switched on and off. The light sources are advantageously arranged in several concentric circles in different planes from which the light can be radiated along different beam axes. An illumination at different selectable angles is possible without a mechanical adjustment of the light sources or the imaging elements. The light sources can be advantageously mounted in a hemispherically-shaped carrier. The illuminating arrangement can be a component of a closed control loop and be controlled quickly and completely automatically via an image processing unit or by manual instructions of desired values via a control console.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An illuminating arrangement for illuminating an object with incident light, the illuminating arrangement being for a viewing and imaging device defining an optical axis and the object defining an object plane, the illuminating arrangement comprising:

a plurality of individual light sources defining respective beam axes;
a mounting structure for mounting said light sources in a geometric array defining a geometric array center coincident with said optical axis and for holding said light sources so as to cause said beam axes to intersect said optical axis in said object plane;
control means for controlling the light of said light sources individually and in combination as to their respective intensities for a specific object;
a plurality of spatial light modulators corresponding to respective ones of said light sources;
and,
said control means being connected to said spatial light modulators for electronically driving said light modulators.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.