Rotating slit aperture for scanning microscopy

Abstract

An improved aperture for a scanning microscope as is used to mask either or both of the incident light and reflected light includes a plurality of continuous curvilinear slits spaced evenly about a common origin, each of which approximates an Archimedes' spiral emanating from the origin centered on the aperture. There are two embodiments of the invention disclosed, both of which have a true Archimedes' spiral to define the inner edge of the continuous slit. In a first embodiment, the outer edge is defined as having a constant proportional circumferential aperture distance from the inner spiral. In the second embodiment, the outer edge is defined as another Archimedes' spiral having a constant offset of minimum distance from the inner spiral. However, the outer edges of the two embodiments essentially merge in a physical sense after only several of the inner revolutions of the continuous slit so that the continuous slit of either embodiment provides an image having uniform masking and uniform resolution. An alternate to these embodiments has a slit with an imaginary centerline wherein each edge is a constant minimum distance from the centerline.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.