EPI-illumination system for an array microscope
US7193775B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 30, 2002 |
| Grant date | Mar 20, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 30, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S359/90
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An epi-illumination system for an array microscope. For Kohler illumination, illumination light sources are placed, actually or virtually, at the pupils of respective individual microscope elements of an array microscope. In one Kohler illumination embodiment, the light source is a point source comprising the tip of an optical fiber placed on the optical axis at the pupil of its corresponding microscope element. In another Kohler illumination embodiment, the illumination light is provided by a reflective boundary placed on the optical axis of a corresponding microscope element. For critical illumination the light sources are placed at locations conjugate with their respective object planes so as to image the light sources thereon. For dark-field illumination, the support material around a microscope element lens, which is used to support an array of lenses, is fashioned to form an illumination optical element so that light from an off-axis source is directed by the illumination element toward the object plane at an angle such that light will not be reflected into the field of view of the imaging system, but scattered or fluorescence light will be within that field of view. The illu…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.