Ancillary module for making a spatially-resolved measurement of a focus volume

US5677525A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Carl Zeiss Stiftung · DE

Inventors

• Martin Volcker · Oberkochen, DE
• Robert Grub · Westerburg, DE
• Wolfgang Wörmann · Gerolsbach, DE
• Martin Gluch · Jena, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 23, 1996
• Grant date: Oct 14, 1997
• Expiry date: Feb 23, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01Q60/22
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The invention relates to an ancillary module 7 for making spatially resolved measurements of the focus volume of a light beam focussed by a microscope objective 4. The light beam is especially a laser beam. The invention includes a carrier assembly having a glass plate 8 and sleeves (9, 10) mounted thereon. A piezoelectric scanning tube 12 is held on the sleeves (9, 10) essentially perpendicularly to the glass plate 8. The scanning tube 12 operates to move an optical near-field probe 13a in three mutually perpendicular directions. The optical near-field sensor is preferably a glass fiber 13 which has a tip 13a at one end thereof. This tip 13a scans the laser focus volume. At the other end of the glass fiber 13, either a photodiode 14 is provided with which the light coupled into the glass fiber is detected or a corresponding light detector can be adapted by means of an interface. The two sleeves (9, 10) are displaceable relative to each other for coarsely positioning the scanning tube 12. In addition, position detectors (18a, 18b) for determining the deflection of the piezoelectric scanning tube 12 and luminescent diodes (17a, 17b) for illuminating the fiber tip 13a can be provided…