Incident-light fluorescence microscope

An incident-light fluorescence microscope comprising:

• a transmission illuminating optical system having a light source for irradiating a sample with light emitted from the light source;
• an objective lens;
• an observation optical system located closer to the objective lens than the sample, said observation optical system including an incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system;
• a band-pass filter, a slit and a condenser lens which are arranged between the sample and the light source of the transmission illuminating optical system;
• and
• a Hoffman modulator, a dichroic mirror, an absorption filter and an image forming lens which are arranged in the observation optical system and which are located further away from the sample than the objective lens;
• wherein said incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system includes an excitation light source and an excitation filter, and causes light emitted from the excitation light source to be reflected by the dichroic mirror of the observation optical system such that the reflected light is radiated to the sample;
• wherein said Hoffman modulator permits transmission of a fluorescent wavelength emitted from the sample, and has a selective wavelength band in a wavelength region greater than the fluorescent wavelength;
• and
• wherein said band-pass filter permits transmission of light whose wavelength is within the selective wavelength band.

An incident-light fluorescence microscope comprising:

• a transmission illuminating optical system having a light source for irradiating a sample with light emitted from the light source;
• an objective lens;
• an observation optical system located closer to the objective lens than the sample, said observation optical system including an incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system;
• a band-pass filter, a slit and a condenser lens which are arranged between the sample and the light source of the transmission illuminating optical system;
• and
• a modulator, a dichroic mirror, an absorption filter and an image forming lens which are arranged in the observation optical system and which are located further away from the sample than the objective lens;
• wherein said incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system includes an excitation light source and an excitation filter, and causes light emitted from the excitation light source to be reflected by the dichroic mirror of the observation optical system such that the reflected light is radiated to the sample;
• wherein said modulator includes a phase film which permits transmission of a fluorescent wavelength emitted from the sample, and has a low-transmittance wavelength band in a wavelength region greater than the fluorescent wavelength;
• and
• wherein said band-pass filter permits transmission of light of the low-transmittance wavelength band.

An incident-light fluorescence microscope comprising:

• a transmission illuminating optical system which includes a first optical member for receiving light emitted from a light source and extracting transmission light, said transmission illuminating system irradiating the transmission light onto a sample;
• and
• an observation optical system having an objective lens and a second optical member positioned closer to said objective lens than the sample, said observation optical system including an incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system;
• wherein said first optical member has a peak of transmittance at a wavelength greater than a fluorescent wavelength;
• wherein said second optical member selectively modulates only a wavelength transmitted through said first optical member;
• wherein said transmission illuminating optical system and said observation optical system operate in accordance with a pupil modulation microscopic method;
• and
• wherein said observation optical system comprises a pupil projecting lens, and said pupil projecting lens is arranged at an optically conjugate position with respect to an exit pupil plane of said objective lens.

An incident-light fluorescence microscope comprising:

• a transmission illuminating optical system including a transmission optical member on which light emitted by a light source is incident and which extracts transmission light, said transmission illuminating optical system irradiating a sample with the transmission light;
• an observation optical system including an objective lens and an observation optical member positioned closer to the objective lens than the sample;
• and
• an incident-light fluorescence illuminating optical system, including an incident-light source, for guiding light emitted from the incident-light source to the sample through the observation optical system to thereby irradiate the sample with the light;
• wherein said observation optical member has a predetermined wavelength band corresponding to wavelengths that are greater than a wavelength of fluorescence emitted from the sample upon irradiation by the incident-light source, the wavelength of fluorescence being greater than a wavelength of an excitation light beam and performing an observation different from fluorescence observation with the light whose wavelength band corresponds to said predetermined wavelength band;
• and
• wherein said transmission optical member permits selective transmission of light having a wavelength band corresponding to the predetermined wavelength band of the observation optical member.