Microscopic illumination apparatus

A microscopic illumination apparatus comprising:

• a light source section having a light source, to emit a beam of substantially parallel rays;
• an optical element having different characteristics between a central region and an outer region, arranged in a path of the beam of substantially parallel rays;
• a field lens for collecting the beam of substantially parallel rays;
• a condenser lens for introducing the beam of rays collected by the field lens to an illumination target surface;
• and
• an aperture stop disposed at an entrance-side focal position of the condenser lens, wherein the aperture stop and the light source are arranged at substantially conjugate positions,
• wherein the optical element is composed of a diffusing portion that diffuses rays incident on the central region and an attenuating portion that attenuates an amount of light incident on the outer region, and
• wherein the optical element is arranged at a position that is conjugate with a position distant from the illumination target surface by L satisfying the following condition:
• 0.03<|L/fCD|<0.4
• where fCD is a focal length of the condenser lens, and L is a distance from the illumination target surface to a position that is, of positions on which the optical element is projected, closest to the illumination target surface.

A microscopic illumination apparatus comprising:

• a light source section having a light source, to emit a beam of substantially parallel rays;
• an optical element having different characteristics between a central region and an outer region, arranged in a path of the beam of substantially parallel rays;
• a field lens for collecting the beam of substantially parallel rays;
• a condenser lens for introducing the beam of rays collected by the field lens to an illumination target surface;
• and
• an aperture stop disposed at an entrance-side focal position of the condenser lens,
• wherein the aperture stop and the light source are arranged at substantially conjugate positions,
• wherein the optical element is composed of an optical integrator arranged in the central region and an attenuating portion that attenuates an amount of light and that is arranged in the outer region, and
• wherein the optical element is arranged at a position that is conjugate with a position distant from the illumination target surface by L satisfying the following condition:
• 0.03<|L/fCD|<0.4
• where fCD is a focal length of the condenser lens, and L is a distance from the illumination target surface to a position that is, of positions on which the optical element is projected, closest to the illumination target surface.