Scanning confocal optical microscope system
AssigneeMedical Research Counsel
InventorWilliam Bradshaw Amos
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A confocal scanning optical microscope system wherein a dispersive optical device such as a prism separates an image from a restricted area of a specimen into a spread of images of differing wavelengths. Different parts of the spread of images are focused at respective beam-limiting apertures which are conjugate with one another, and the spectrally differing beams passing through the beam-limiting apertures pass to respective detectors.
Claims9
A scanning confocal optical microscope system comprising a scanning confocal optical microscope which produces a beam of light forming an image of a restricted region of a specimen in a primary image plane (24), a dispersive optical means (28) which receives the beam from the said primary image plane and produces a linearly dispersed spectral spread of imaging light, focussing means (30) for forming secondary images of the same region of the specimen, from different regions of said spectral spread of imaging light, a beam-limiting aperture (34, 36) in each secondary image plane and a plurality of detectors (35, 37) receiving light through the respective beam-limiting apertures (34, 36).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.