Grazing angle microscope
US4810077A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 13, 1986 |
| Grant date | Mar 7, 1989 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 13, 2006 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B21/084
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A grazing angle microscope includes a highly convex central spherical mirror segment and a highly concave annular spherical mirror segment. A beam of incident radiant energy is sequentially directed against a part of the first convex mirror and a first part of the concave mirror onto a surface area at grazing angles so as to form a focused image on the surface area. A second part of the concave mirror collects radiant energy reflected from the surface at grazing angles and directs it to a second part of the convex mirror for reflection to a detector. Masking means are located at a focus that is remote from the surface area to determine the geometric shape of the image of the remote focus to target the surface area to be sampled by radiant energy. The masking means is adjusted during viewing in a visible light mode, with the visible light having a common optical path and common focal points with the radiant energy. The grazing angle microscope may obtain meaningful magnifications of a surface area as great as a 150 times for grazing angles between 60.degree. and 85.degree. off a normal to the surface area.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.