CN214374303U

CN214374303U - Optical system of laser scanning imager

Info

Publication number: CN214374303U
Application number: CN202023095335.6U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 方文磊; 丁伟
Original assignee: Beijing Haiweier Technology Development Co ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Haiweier Technology Development Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-21
Filing date: 2020-12-21
Publication date: 2021-10-08
Anticipated expiration: 2030-12-21

Abstract

The utility model relates to a laser scanning technical field specifically discloses a laser scanning imager optical system, and optical system sets up on laser scanning imager's the mechanical scanning device, include: a plurality of optical modules, a beam splitter and a scanning head; the scanning head is arranged on the X-axis guide rail in a sliding manner; the plurality of optical modules are respectively and fixedly arranged at one end or two ends of the X-axis guide rail; the light splitting device is arranged on the X-axis guide rail and is positioned between the optical module and the scanning head. The utility model discloses among the optical system, every optical module is a scanning channel to the scanning head, realizes the distribution to laser and fluorescence on each scanning channel through beam splitting device, has satisfied the requirement that the multichannel detected, moreover, bright time dark when can not lead to the image of scanning, can realize the fluorescence formation of image on a large scale of high accuracy, better be applied to biological medical treatment and life science research.

Description

Optical system of laser scanning imager

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a laser scanning technical field especially involves a laser scanning imager optical system.

Background

The optical system of the laser confocal scanning imager adopts a confocal optical structure, 1 pixel is acquired at each time, and image information of the whole plane can be acquired through XY plane scanning. It can meet the imaging requirements of various types of biomolecule samples. Types of samples that can be imaged include: the fluorescent material is arranged in a sample and can be excited to emit fluorescence by laser, and the excited fluorescence is converted into an electric signal by an optical system so as to enable a laser scanning imager to carry out imaging processing. The laser confocal scanning imager has wide application range, but the equipment relates to various subjects such as optics, mechanics, electronics, software and the like, has high technical threshold, and the like products in the current market are few, and the existing laser confocal scanning imager performs sliding scanning on the whole optical system, and has the following defects: the optical system for sliding scanning has large mass, so that the scanning process has large shaking, the requirement on the rigidity of the whole machine structure is higher, the efficiency of the optical system for collecting optical signals is influenced by the structural precision, and if the structural rigidity is not enough, a scanned image is bright and dark. The second disadvantage is that: because the detection circuit part and the scanning part of the optical system are mutually bound, the complexity of the whole structure of the optical system is increased, and the later-period replacement and maintenance are inconvenient.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An embodiment of the utility model provides a laser scanning imager optical system for when solving the whole slip scanning of laser scanning imager's optical system among the prior art, the dark problem when bright when having the image because of rocking big and leading to the scanning.

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an optical system of a laser scanning imager, wherein the optical system is disposed on a mechanical scanning device of the laser scanning imager, the mechanical scanning device includes an X-axis guide rail, a Y-axis guide rail and a Z-axis guide rail, and the X-axis guide rail is slidably disposed on the Y-axis guide rail and the Z-axis guide rail; the optical system includes:

a plurality of optical modules, a beam splitter and a scanning head; the scanning head is arranged on the X-axis guide rail in a sliding manner; the plurality of optical modules are respectively and fixedly arranged at one end or two ends of the X-axis guide rail; the light splitting device is arranged on the X-axis guide rail and is positioned between the optical module and the scanning head; the different optical modules are used for providing laser with different working wavelengths and converting fluorescence excited by the laser into an electric signal, and the scanning head is used for focusing the laser on the surface of a sample to be scanned and collecting and collimating the fluorescence excited by the laser; the light splitting device is used for respectively reflecting the laser light provided by the optical modules into the scanning head and respectively reflecting the fluorescent light collected and collimated by the scanning head into the optical modules.

The utility model discloses beneficial effect does: the utility model discloses among the optical system, every optical module is a scanning passageway to the scanning head, realize laser and the distribution of fluorescence on each scanning passageway through beam splitting device, the requirement that the multichannel detected has been satisfied, and, when treating the scanning sample and scanning, because the scanning head of scanning motion part middle only, the scanning head quality is little, can follow the high-speed scanning that comes and goes of X axle guide rail under mechanical scanning device's drive, thereby realize the quick scan to the sample, it is little to rock during the scanning, it is dark when bright when the image that can not lead to the scanning. A plurality of optical modules are separated at the end side of the X-axis guide rail, and a plurality of optical modules and a scanning head can integrally and slowly move along the Y axis under the drive of the mechanical scanning device, so that the area of a scanning view field is increased. The laser wavelength emitted by each optical module can be different, the scanning head converges the laser with various wavelengths on a sample and receives various fluorescence excited by different lasers, and high-precision and large-range fluorescence imaging can be realized, so that the system can be better applied to biomedical and life science research.

On the basis of the technical scheme, the utility model discloses can also do as follows the improvement:

optionally, the optical path structure of the optical module includes a laser optical path and a fluorescence optical path, the laser optical path is sequentially provided with a laser and a dichroic filter, laser emitted by the laser is reflected out of the optical module through the dichroic filter, and the reflected laser is reflected into the scanning head by the light splitting device;

the fluorescence light path is sequentially provided with the dichroic filter, the focusing unit and the photoelectric sensor; the fluorescence reflected into the optical module by the light splitting device is transmitted by the dichroic filter and then focused into the photoelectric sensor by the focusing unit.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the optical module is used for providing laser and turns into the signal of telecommunication with the fluorescence that laser excitation goes out, and the laser instrument in the optical module can be customized according to user's actual demand, ensures that the laser wavelength of laser outgoing and the excitation efficiency of the fluorescent material in the sample match, and photoelectric sensor uses avalanche diode APD and/or photomultiplier PMT, and the light signal of the fluorescence of its collection is directly proportional with the concentration of fluorescent material in the sample, so that the utility model discloses the optical module possess high sensitivity and big linear dynamic range. The laser emitted by the optical module is reflected by the light splitting device and then is parallel to the X-axis guide rail so as to enable the parallel laser to be emitted into the scanning head which is on the same straight line with the optical module, therefore, because a parallel light path is formed between the optical module and the scanning head, the optical module and the scanning head are mutually independent, and the photoelectric sensor is positioned in the optical module, the light path does not need to be readjusted when a user needs to replace the optical module, the number of the required optical modules or the number of the optical modules can be customized according to actual requirements, and the optical modules or the number of the optical modules can be replaced or maintained automatically when needed. Moreover, since the plano-convex lens has a high NA value and a small spot (less than 10 μm) at the focal point, a high resolving power can be achieved, and therefore, when the optical system is scanned along the XY plane using the mechanical scanning device, both a high resolving power and a large field of view can be achieved.

Optionally, the scanning head includes a first scanning mirror and a plurality of scanning lenses, and/or a second scanning mirror and a plurality of scanning lenses, which are sequentially arranged along the laser propagation path, and the number of the scanning lenses is consistent with the number of the optical modules;

the laser reflected into the scanning head by the light splitting device is reflected into the scanning lenses on the corresponding laser propagation routes by the first scanning reflecting mirror and/or the second scanning reflecting mirror respectively, and each scanning lens focuses the laser on the surface of the sample to be scanned, so that the laser excites fluorescent substances in the sample to be scanned to generate fluorescence;

each scanning lens collects and collimates the fluorescence excited by the laser, the collimated fluorescence is reflected into the light splitting device by the first scanning reflector and/or the second scanning reflector, and the light splitting device reflects the fluorescence into the fluorescence light path of the corresponding optical module.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the scanning head structure of the scanning motion part is simple and small in mass, and can be driven by the mechanical scanning device to perform high-speed reciprocating scanning along the X-axis guide rail, so that the sample can be rapidly scanned, the reciprocating scanning is small in shaking, and the scanned image is not bright and dark. And the number of the scanning lenses can be increased or reduced according to the number of the optical modules required by a user, and the scanning lens is simple in structure, small in quality and easy to replace and maintain in the later period.

Optionally, the light splitting device includes a light path reflecting mirror group, and each light path reflecting mirror in the light path reflecting mirror group is respectively located between each optical module and the scanning head.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the light path reflecting mirrors arranged on the scanning channels realize the light splitting reflection of the laser and the fluorescence.

Optionally, the scanning lens is a double-cemented achromat lens, and is used for converging the laser light emitted by the optical module to a focus; the double-cemented achromatic lenses are respectively and movably arranged in the scanning head, so that the positions of the double-cemented achromatic lenses can be adjusted up and down along the laser propagation routes where the double-cemented achromatic lenses are located, and the focuses of the lasers emitted by different optical modules are adjusted to the same focal plane.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the double-cemented achromatic lens converges the laser emitted by the optical module to a focus, and the laser on different scanning channels can be positioned on the same focus plane by adjusting the position of each double-cemented achromatic lens.

Optionally, the Z-axis guide rail is a lead screw arranged on the mechanical device along the Z-axis direction, and one end of the lead screw is rotatably connected with a motor arranged in the mechanical device; the scanning head further comprises a lens connecting part, the scanning lenses are movably arranged on the lens connecting part along the laser propagation routes where the scanning lenses are respectively located, the other end of the screw rod is fixedly connected with the lens connecting part, and the scanning lenses arranged on the lens connecting part move along with the screw rod along the Z-axis direction under the rotation of the motor.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: each scanning head lens moves along the Z-axis direction along with a Z-axis guide rail (lead screw), so that the focal planes among the scanning lenses can be finely adjusted along the Z-axis direction, the influence of focal plane misalignment caused by dimensional tolerance and chromatic aberration is eliminated, all light paths after fine adjustment can simultaneously enable the focal planes to coincide with the surface of a sample to be scanned, and the high-precision scanning of the sample is realized.

Optionally, an emission lens is installed on the laser, and the emission lens is used for collimating laser light emitted by the laser;

and an excitation light filter is also arranged between the laser and the dichroic filter and is used for filtering the laser collimated by the emission lens.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: and the emitting lens is adopted to collimate the laser emitted by the laser. The excitation light filter has a very high cut-off depth which is generally not lower than OD6, and can filter laser with a wavelength deviating greatly, so that noise factors in the laser influencing image quality are removed, and the image quality of the scanning imager is improved.

Optionally, the focusing unit includes a plano-convex lens, and a perforated plane with an aperture of 0.02-1mm is disposed between the plano-convex lens and the photosensor and is used for filtering stray light in fluorescence;

and an emission light filter is arranged between the plano-convex lens and the plane with the holes and is used for filtering laser focused into fluorescence of small light spots.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the plane with holes can filter out stray light except the fluorescent light focused into small light spots, thereby removing the noise factor of the stray light in the fluorescent light which influences the image quality and further improving the image quality of the scanning imager. The emission light filter also has good cut-off depth which is larger than OD6, and can filter most laser mixed in fluorescence, thereby further improving the image quality of the scanning imager.

Optionally, the optical module further includes a fluorescent reflector disposed between the dichroic filter and the plano-convex lens, and the fluorescent reflector is configured to reflect the fluorescent light transmitted by the dichroic filter into the plano-convex lens; the fluorescent reflector, the first scanning reflector, the second scanning reflector and the light path reflector are one or more of the following reflectors: an aluminized reflector, a silvered reflector, and a gilded reflector.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: because the laser and the fluorescence are both visible light or near infrared light, the fluorescence reflector, the first scanning reflector, the second scanning reflector and the light path reflector which are aluminum-plated reflectors or silver-plated reflectors or gold-plated reflectors can reflect the laser or the fluorescence.

Optionally, the lasers in different optical modules are respectively selected from lasers matched with excitation spectra of different fluorescent substances.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt the beneficial effect of above-mentioned alternative to do: the lasers in different optical modules are respectively selected from lasers matched with excitation spectrums of different fluorescent substances, for example, the fluorescent substances in a sample need to be excited by near-infrared laser, the laser in one optical module is selected from the near-infrared laser, similarly, the lasers in other optical modules can be respectively selected from a green laser, a blue laser and a red laser, when the sample is a Phosphor energy storage screen which needs to be excited by the red laser, a red laser scanning channel where the red laser is located can be directly opened for scanning, and when three fluorescent substances exist in the same sample, three lasers respectively matched with the excitation spectrums of the three fluorescent substances are opened.

The above description is only an overview of the technical solutions of the present invention, and in order to make the technical means of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention may be implemented according to the content of the description, and in order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following detailed description of the present invention is given.

Drawings

Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Also, like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout the drawings. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an optical system of a multi-channel laser scanning imager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of an optical path of an optical system of a multi-channel laser scanning imager according to an embodiment of the present invention during scanning;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of an optical path structure of an optical module according to an embodiment of the present invention when a laser of the optical module is an Avalanche Photodiode (APD);

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the optical path structure of the optical module with the fluorescent reflector in FIG. 3;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an optical path structure of an optical module when a laser of the optical module is a PMT (photomultiplier tube) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the optical path structure of the optical module with the fluorescent reflector in FIG. 5;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of signal strength when the optical system searches for a scanned sample plane according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure: 1-optical module, 11-laser, 12-dichroic filter, 13-fluorescence reflector, 14-plano-convex lens, 15-avalanche diode APD, 16-photomultiplier PMT, 17-excitation light filter, 18-perforated plane, 19-emission light filter;

2-an optical path reflector;

3-scanning head, 31-first scanning mirror, 32-second scanning mirror, 33-scanning lens;

4-X axis guide rail, 5-Y axis guide rail, 6-sample, 71-green laser channel R, 72-near infrared laser channel N, 73-blue laser channel B, 74-R & P channel.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

The utility model discloses a first embodiment please refer to fig. 1, provides a laser scanning imager optical system, and optical system sets up on laser scanning imager's mechanical scanning device, and mechanical scanning device includes X axle guide rail 4, Y axle guide rail 5 and Z axle guide rail, and X axle guide rail 4 slides and sets up on Y axle guide rail 5 and Z axle guide rail. Referring to fig. 1, the optical system includes: the scanning device comprises a plurality of optical modules 1, a light splitting device and a scanning head 3, wherein the scanning head 3 is arranged on an X-axis guide rail 4 in a sliding mode. In this embodiment, there are four optical modules 1, and the four optical modules 1 are respectively and fixedly disposed at two ends of the X-axis guide rail 4, and two optical modules 1 are disposed at one end. The beam splitting device is arranged on the X-axis guide rail 4 and is positioned between the optical module 1 and the scanning head 3. The four optical modules 1 are respectively used for providing laser with different working wavelengths and converting fluorescence excited by the laser into electric signals, the scanning head 3 is used for focusing the laser on the surface of a sample 6 to be scanned and collecting and collimating the fluorescence excited by the laser, and the light splitting device is used for respectively reflecting the laser provided by the optical modules 1 into the scanning head 3 and respectively reflecting the fluorescence collected and collimated by the scanning head 3 into the optical modules 1. The embodiment of the utility model provides an among the optical system, every optical module 1 is a scanning channel to scanning head 3, therefore, this embodiment has four scanning channels, realized the distribution to laser and fluorescence on each scanning channel through beam split device, the requirement that the multichannel detected has been satisfied, and, when treating scanning sample 6 and scan, because the scanning head 3 in the middle of the scanning motion part is only, scanning head 3 is of small quality, can follow X axle guide rail 4 and come and go the scanning at a high speed under mechanical scanning device's drive, thereby realize the quick scan to sample 6, the system rocks for a short time during scanning, it is dark when bright when the image that can not lead to the scanning. A plurality of optical module 1 are separated at the side of the X-axis guide rail 4, and a plurality of optical modules 1, a light splitting device and a scanning head 3 are driven by a mechanical scanning device to integrally and slowly move along the Y axis, so that the area of a scanning view field is increased. The laser wavelength emitted by each optical module 1 can be different, the scanning head 3 converges the laser with various wavelengths on the sample 6 and receives various fluorescence excited by different lasers, so that high-precision and large-range fluorescence imaging is realized, and the system can be better applied to biomedical and life science research.

In this embodiment, the light-emitting ports of the scanning head 3 and the optical modules 1 are all oriented to the sample 6 to be scanned, the scanning head 3 is parallel to the light paths of the optical modules 1, because the scanning head 3 and the optical modules 1 are not bound together in an independent structure, each optical module 1 and the scanning head 3 are always on the same straight line, and because parallel light paths are formed between each optical module 1 and the scanning head 3, laser and fluorescence on each scanning channel are distributed through the light splitting device, therefore, the scanning head 3 does not affect the optical modules 1 at different positions, customers can freely customize and change the optical modules 1, the light paths do not need to be readjusted when the optical modules 1 are changed, and later maintenance is convenient.

In this embodiment, referring to fig. 3 and 5, the optical path structure of the optical module 1 includes a laser optical path and a fluorescence optical path, the laser optical path is sequentially provided with a laser 11 and a dichroic filter 12, during scanning, laser light emitted by the laser 11 of the optical module 1 is reflected out of the optical module 1 through the dichroic filter 12, and the reflected laser light is reflected into the scanning head 3 by the light splitting device. The focusing unit in this embodiment comprises a plano-convex lens 14 and the photosensor comprises an avalanche diode APD15 and a photomultiplier tube PMT16 for converting the optical signal of the fluorescent light into an electrical signal. Specifically, the photosensors of the two optical modules 1 disposed at the left end of the X-axis guide rail 4 are avalanche diodes APD15, the photosensors of the two optical modules 1 disposed at the right end of the X-axis guide rail 4 are photomultiplier tubes PMT16, the dichroic filter 12, the plano-convex lens 14, and the photosensors are sequentially disposed in the fluorescence light path, and the fluorescence reflected by the light splitting device into the optical modules 1 is transmitted through the dichroic filter 12 and then focused by the plano-convex lens 14 into the photosensors.

Preferably, the optical module 1 further includes a fluorescence reflector disposed between the dichroic filter 12 and the plano-convex lens 14, and referring to fig. 4 and fig. 6, the dichroic filter 12, the fluorescence reflector 13, the plano-convex lens 14 and the photoelectric sensor are disposed in sequence on the fluorescence light path, and the fluorescence reflected by the light splitting device into the optical module 1 is transmitted through the dichroic filter 12, reflected into the plano-convex lens 14 by the fluorescence reflector 13, and focused into the photoelectric sensor by the plano-convex lens 14. In this embodiment, since both the laser light and the fluorescence are visible light or near infrared light, the fluorescence reflector 13 can reflect the fluorescence by using an aluminum-plated reflector, a silver-plated reflector, or a gold-plated reflector. The laser light path and the fluorescence light path share the dichroic filter 12, the dichroic filter 12 is used for reflecting laser and transmitting fluorescence, the fluorescence reflector 13 is used for reflecting the fluorescence transmitted by the dichroic filter 12 into the plano-convex lens 14, and the plano-convex lens 14 focuses the fluorescence into small light spots and emits the small light spots into the photoelectric sensor.

The optical module 1 in the embodiment of the present invention is used for providing laser and converting the fluorescence excited by the laser into an electrical signal, the laser 11 in the optical module 1 can be customized according to the actual requirement of the user, so as to ensure that the laser wavelength emitted by the laser 11 matches the excitation efficiency of the fluorescent substance in the sample 6, that is, the laser 11 in different optical modules 1 respectively selects the laser 11 matching the excitation spectrum of different fluorescent substances, the working wavelengths of the dichroic filter 12, the emission optical filter 19 and the excitation optical filter 17 in each optical module 1 match the emission wavelength of the laser, and, when the sample 6 is a Phosphor energy storage screen, the working wavelengths of the dichroic filter 12 and the emission filter 19 in the optical module 1 need to be matched with the excitation spectrum of the Phosphor energy storage screen. Therefore, the lasers 11 in the different optical modules 1 are respectively selected as the lasers 11 matched with the excitation spectra of the different fluorescent substances, for example, the fluorescent substances in the sample need to be excited by near-infrared laser, the laser in one optical module is selected as the near-infrared laser, and similarly, the lasers in the other optical modules can be respectively selected as a green laser, a blue laser and a red laser, when the sample is a phoshor fluorescent powder energy storage screen which needs to be excited by the red laser, a red laser scanning channel where the red laser is located can be directly opened for scanning, and when three fluorescent substances exist in one sample, three lasers 11 matched with the excitation spectra of the three fluorescent substances are opened. Because the optical module 1 using the red laser can also scan the Phosphor powder energy storage screen, the working pass bands of the dichroic filter 12 and the emission light filter 19 in the optical module 1 using the red laser are set to be two pass bands, so that the fluorescent light with longer wavelength excited by the red laser can be collected, and the light with smaller wavelength emitted by the energy storage screen can be collected.

Specifically, the embodiment of the present invention provides a laser 11, which uses a laser diode with electric power of 5-50mW, wherein the laser diode is movably disposed on the laser light path of the optical module 1 to realize the adjustment of the pitch and yaw angles of the laser diode, and the laser 11 in the optical module 1 on each light path in the system is selected to use a laser diode matched with the excitation spectrum of the fluorescent material, so as to achieve the maximum spectrum utilization rate. The adopted laser diode has small volume, the energy of the emitted laser is concentrated after being collimated, and the emergent wavelength can be customized and selected according to the requirements of users. And the pitching and the deflecting angles of the laser diode can be adjusted, so that the coincidence of the optical axis of the laser and the optical axis of the system is ensured.

The photoelectric sensor uses avalanche diode APD15 and photomultiplier PMT16, and the optical signal of the fluorescence that avalanche diode APD15 and photomultiplier PMT16 gathered is directly proportional with the concentration of fluorescent substance in sample 6, so that the utility model discloses optical module 1 possess high sensitivity and big linear dynamic range. Laser that optical module 1 sent is parallel with X axle guide rail 4 after the beam split device reflection to incidenting into parallel laser with optical module 1 in the scanning head 3 on the collinear, therefore, because be parallel light path between optical module 1 and the scanning head 3, optical module 1 and scanning head 3 are mutually independent, photoelectric sensor is located optical module 1, make the quality of scanning part scanning head 3 reduce, the structure is also simpler, so the user need not readjust the light path again when needing to change optical module 1, can also customize required optical module 1 or the quantity of optical module 1 according to actual demand, so that can change or maintain by oneself when needing. Further, since the planoconvex lens 14 has a high NA value and a small spot (less than 10 μm) at the focal point, high resolution can be achieved, and therefore, when the optical system is scanned along the XY plane using a mechanical scanning device, both high resolution and a large field of view can be achieved.

In the embodiment of the present invention, please refer to fig. 2, the scanning head 3 includes two scanning lenses 33 in front of the first scanning reflector 31 and the first scanning reflector 31, and two scanning lenses 33 in front of the second scanning reflector 32 and the second scanning reflector 32, which are sequentially arranged along the laser propagation path, in this embodiment, the first scanning reflector 31 and the second scanning reflector 32 all adopt an aluminum-plated reflector or a silver-plated reflector or a gold-plated reflector, and the number of the scanning lenses 33 is identical to the number of the optical module 1, and is four. The laser emitted by the two optical modules 1 on the left side of the X-axis guide rail 4 is reflected into the scanning head 3 by the light splitting device, the two kinds of laser in the two scanning channels on the left side of the X-axis guide rail 4 are respectively reflected into the scanning lenses 33 on the corresponding laser propagation routes by the scanning head 3 through the first scanning reflecting mirror 31, the two kinds of laser in the two scanning channels on the right side of the X-axis guide rail 4 are respectively reflected into the scanning lenses 33 on the corresponding laser propagation routes by the scanning head 3 through the second scanning reflecting mirror 32, and the laser is focused onto the surface of the sample 6 to be scanned by each scanning lens 33, so that the fluorescent substance in the sample 6 to be scanned is excited out of fluorescence by the laser. Then, each scanning lens 33 collects and collimates the fluorescence excited by the laser light, and the collimated fluorescence is reflected by the first scanning mirror 31 and the second scanning mirror 32 into the spectroscopic device, respectively, and is reflected by the spectroscopic device into the fluorescence optical path of the corresponding optical module 1.

The embodiment of the utility model provides a scanning head 3 of scanning motion part simple structure quality is little, can follow X axle guide rail 4 high-speed scanning that comes and goes under mechanical scanning device's drive to the realization is to the quick scan of sample 6, rocks when coming and going the scanning for a short time, and is dark when bright when can not lead to the image of scanning. Moreover, the number of the scanning lenses 33 can be increased or decreased according to the number of the optical modules 1 required by a user, and the optical module is simple in structure, low in mass and easy to replace and maintain later.

Referring to fig. 2, in the embodiment of the present invention, the light splitting device includes a light path reflector set, each light path reflector 2 in the light path reflector set is respectively located between each optical module 1 and the scanning head 3, and since laser and fluorescence are both visible light or near infrared light, the light path reflector 2 can select one or more of an aluminum-plated reflector, a silver-plated reflector and a gold-plated reflector, so as to implement light splitting reflection of laser and fluorescence.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an in, scanning lens 33 adopts two gluey achromats for on converging a focus with the laser that optical module 1 sent, a plurality of two gluey achromats activity respectively sets up in scanner head 3, so that two gluey achromats's position can be followed laser propagation route at their own and adjusted from top to bottom, adjust to the coplanar with the focus of the laser that different optical module 1 sent. The embodiment of the utility model provides an adopt two gluey achromats to assemble the laser that optical module 1 jetted out to a focus on, and can make the laser on the different scanning channels be in same focus plane through the position of adjusting each two gluey achromats.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the Z-axis guide rail is a lead screw disposed on the mechanical device along the Z-axis direction (the Z-axis direction is perpendicular to the X-axis guide rail and the Y-axis guide rail), and one end of the lead screw is connected to the motor disposed in the mechanical device in a rotating manner (since the mechanical device is a mechanical device of a laser scanning imager in the prior art, the mechanical device is clear to those skilled in the art, and therefore the lead screw and the motor are not illustrated here). The scanning head 3 further includes a lens connection portion 34, the plurality of scanning lenses 33 are respectively movably disposed on the lens connection portion 34 along the respective laser propagation path, specifically, the four scanning lenses 33 can be respectively rotatably connected to the lens connection portion 34 through a connection member of a threaded structure such as a bolt and a screw, before leaving a factory, each scanning lens 33 can be rotatably connected to the bolt on the lens connection portion by adjusting, so as to calibrate the focal planes of the four scanning lenses 33 to the same plane, in the using process, the bolts do not need to be adjusted again, and further the focal planes of the four scanning lenses 33 can be calibrated, the other end of the screw is fixedly connected to the lens connection portion 34, and the four scanning lenses 33 disposed on the lens connection portion 34 move along the Z-axis direction along with the screw under the rotation of the motor. Therefore, the embodiment of the utility model provides an each scanning head lens can remove in Z axle direction along with Z axle guide rail (being the lead screw) for focus plane between a plurality of scanning lens can be followed Z axle direction fine setting, and with the influence that the focus plane that eliminates dimensional tolerance and colour difference and bring does not coincide, all light paths can make focus plane and wait to scan the coincidence of sample surface simultaneously after the fine setting, realize the high accuracy scanning to the sample.

In the embodiment of the utility model provides an in, install transmitting lens on the laser instrument 11, transmitting lens is used for carrying out the collimation with the laser that laser instrument 11 sent.

Referring to fig. 3 to 6, since scanning noise is an important factor affecting image quality, in order to shield the noise, first, an excitation light filter 17 is further provided between the laser 11 and the dichroic filter 12 to filter the laser light collimated by the emission lens. The excitation light filter 17 has a very high cut-off depth, generally not lower than OD6, and can filter out laser with a wavelength deviating a lot, thereby removing noise factors in the laser affecting image quality and improving the image quality of the scanning imager. Secondly, a perforated plane 18 with the aperture of 0.02-1mm is arranged between the plano-convex lens 14 of the optical module 1 and the photoelectric sensor and is used for filtering stray light in fluorescence. The perforated plane 18 can filter stray light except for the fluorescent light focused to a small light spot, thereby removing the noise factor of the stray light in the fluorescent light influencing the image quality and further improving the image quality of the scanning imager. In addition, an emission light filter 19 is arranged between the plano-convex lens 14 and the perforated plane 18 and used for filtering laser focused into small light spots in fluorescence, the emission light filter 19 also has good cut-off depth which is larger than OD6, most of laser mixed in the fluorescence can be filtered, and the image quality of the scanning imager is further improved.

The second embodiment of the present invention is an application example of the present invention, which is introduced with reference to fig. 1 to 7, based on the above embodiments.

The utility model discloses the laser scanning imager optical system of application embodiment has installed four optical module 1 and a scanning head 3 on the mechanical scanning device of a laser scanning imager, and scanning passageway of 1 to 3 bits of scanning head of an optical module, promptly the utility model discloses the laser scanning imager of application embodiment has four scanning passageways. Each optical module 1 comprises 1 laser 11, a detector, a dichroic filter 12, an emission light filter 19, a plano-convex lens 14, a fluorescence mirror 13, an excitation light filter 17, and a perforated plane 13.

The laser 11 of the optical module 1 is a laser diode flexibly assembled according to the custom channel, and the emission wavelength of the laser diode is matched with the excitation efficiency of the fluorescent substance in the sample 6. The detector is a photoelectric sensor, specifically, the photoelectric sensors of the two optical modules 1 positioned at the left side of the scanning head 3 use avalanche diodes APD15, the photoelectric sensors of the two optical modules 1 positioned at the right side of the scanning head 3 use photomultiplier tube PMT16, and the optical signals collected by the avalanche diodes APD15 and the photomultiplier tube PMT16 are proportional to the concentration of the fluorescent substance in the sample 6, so that the optical system can be ensured to have high sensitivity and large linear dynamic range.

The laser diode used as the exciting light source has electric power of 5-50mW, and has the advantages of small volume and concentrated energy after collimation. Since the wavelength of the fluorescence is greater than the wavelength of the laser light, twoThe excitation light may be reflected and the fluorescence may be transmitted to the color filter 12. Since the noise in scanning is an important factor affecting the image quality of the laser scanning imager, in order to shield the noise, on one hand, a 0.02-1mm perforated plane 13 is added in front of the avalanche diode APD15 and the photomultiplier tube PMT16 to filter out the stray light except the fluorescence focused to a focus by the plano-convex lens 14. On the other hand, an excitation light filter 17 is arranged in front of the laser diode, an emission light filter 19 is arranged in front of the photoelectric sensors (avalanche diode APD15 and photomultiplier PMT16), and the excitation light filter 17 and the emission light filter 19 both have high cut-off depths which are generally not lower than OD6 (10)^{^-6}Multiple).

Since the NA value of the planoconvex lens 14 is high and the spot at the focal point is small (less than 10 μm), a high resolving power can be achieved. The mechanical scanning device is used to ensure that the optical system can have both high resolution capability and large field of view when scanning along the XY plane.

In this embodiment, four optical path reflectors 2 are respectively located between each optical module 1 and the scanning head 3, the optical path reflectors 2 may be one or more of an aluminum-plated reflector, a silver-plated reflector and a gold-plated reflector, the optical path reflectors 2 are configured to reflect the laser emitted from the optical module 1 into the scanning head 3 and reflect the fluorescence collected and collimated by the scanning head 3 into the optical module 1, during scanning, the moving portion is only the scanning head 3 in the middle, and includes a lens and a reflector, and specifically includes a first scanning reflector 31, a second scanning reflector 32 and four scanning lenses 33 sequentially arranged along the laser propagation route of each scanning channel. The scanning head 3 has a simple structure and light weight, and can perform high-speed reciprocating scanning on the sample 6 along the X-axis guide rail 4. Four optical module 1 divide the both sides at scanning head 3, then four optical module 1 and scanning head 3 are whole to be moved slowly along Y axle guide rail 5 under mechanical scanning device's drive, because be parallel light path between scanning head 3 and the optical module 1, optical module 1 and scanning head 3 are on a straight line all the time, and scanning head 3 does not have the influence to optical module 1 at different positions.

Therefore, the optical system of the application embodiment not only has high sensitivity, high dynamic range, high contrast, short scanning time and multiple detection channels. And compared with the existing product, the moving part has small mass (small shaking and rapid scanning), and the user can freely customize and replace the optical module 1.

Referring to fig. 2-4, the optical system of the present embodiment has a total of five scanning channels, including: r (red), G (green), B (blue), N (near infrared) and P (Phosphor powder energy storage screen) scanning channels, because Phosphor powder energy storage screen P also needs red laser to excite, so R & P channel 74 that infrared laser channel R and Phosphor powder energy storage screen channel P merge is the channel that optical module 1 that chooses infrared laser is located, needs to customize into two for dichroic filter 12 and the quantity of the work passbands of emission light filter 19 in optical module 1 of R & P channel 74. Therefore, the optical system in this embodiment can simultaneously scan 4 channels G + N + B + R/P, i.e., a green laser channel R71 (the laser 11 in the optical module 1 of this channel is a green laser diode), a near-infrared laser channel N72 (the laser 11 in the optical module 1 of this channel is a near-infrared laser diode), a blue laser channel B73 (the laser 11 in the optical module 1 of this channel is a blue laser diode), and an R & P channel 74 (the laser 11 in the optical module 1 of this channel is a red laser diode).

When scanning the sample 6, the operation of the optical module 1 for each scanning channel is as follows:

the working flow of the laser light path of each optical module 1 is that software and a control circuit control the laser diode to be turned on (the technology of turning on the laser diode by the software and the control circuit is well known by those skilled in the art), the light emitted by the laser diode is collimated by a transmitting lens, the laser light with a larger wavelength deviation is filtered by an excitation light filter 17, then the collimated laser light reflected by the optical module 1 is reflected by a dichroic filter 12 out of the optical module 1, the collimated laser light reflected by the optical path reflector 2 is parallel to an X-axis guide rail 4, the laser in a green laser channel R71 and a near-infrared laser channel N72 is reflected by a first scanning reflector 31 to be in a vertical direction, the laser light is focused to the surface of a sample 6 by a corresponding scanning lens 33, the laser in a blue laser channel B73 and an R & P channel 74 is reflected by a second scanning reflector 32 to be in the vertical direction, focused onto the surface of the sample 6 via a corresponding scanning lens 33.

The specific wavelength of the laser 11 of each scanning channel can be customized according to the user's requirement, and the laser 11 close to the excitation spectrum of the fluorescent substance is selected for each channel, so as to achieve the maximum spectrum utilization rate. The laser light is emitted from a laser 11, and the pitch and yaw angles of the laser 11 can be adjusted to ensure that the optical axis of the laser light coincides with the optical axis of the system. A passband filter (i.e., excitation light filter 17) is added in front of the laser 11 to make the laser wavelength of each channel more pure.

In order to focus the laser beams with different wavelengths to the same focal point, the scanning lens 33 is a double cemented achromat. The upper and lower positions of the double cemented achromat can be properly adjusted to make the laser focuses of all channels in the same plane, and the scanning lens 33 can be driven by the mechanical scanning device to move along the Z-axis guide rail, so that the focal planes of the focuses coincide with the plane of the sample 6.

The fluorescent material in the sample 6 is excited by laser to emit fluorescence, the fluorescence is collected and collimated by the scanning lens 33, the collimated fluorescence on each laser channel enters the optical path reflector 2 on the corresponding laser channel after being reflected by the first scanning reflector 31 and the second scanning reflector 32, the fluorescence is processed by the fluorescence path reflected by the optical path reflector 2 into the corresponding optical module 1, at this time, the working procedure of the fluorescence path of the optical module 1 is that, firstly, the fluorescence enters the fluorescence reflector 13 through the dichroic filter 12, the fluorescence reflector 13 is reflected into the plano-convex lens 14 to be focused into a small spot, the small spot of the fluorescence is moved to the hole center of the perforated plane 18 by adjusting the pitching and the deflection of the fluorescence reflector 13, after the fluorescence light passes through the small hole on the perforated plane 18, the fluorescence in the two optical modules 1 on the left side is shot on the diode APD15, the fluorescence in the two optical modules 1 on the right side is shot on the photomultiplier tube PMT16, the fluorescent signal is converted into an electrical signal.

In order to filter out the interference of stronger laser, an emission light filter 19 with a passband pasband is additionally arranged in front of the small hole of the perforated plane 18, has a good cut-off depth larger than OD6, and can filter out most of laser mixed in fluorescence.

Before scanning, a scanning plane needs to be searched: since the signal intensity is maximum only when the sample 6 is at the laser focus, the optical system is driven by the mechanical scanning device to find the plane of the sample 6 before each scan in the direction of the Z-axis guide rail. When a motor in the mechanical scanning device drives the scanning lens 33 in the optical system to move along the Z-axis guide rail, the signal intensity has a peak value (as shown in fig. 7), and then the scanning lens 33 is moved to the peak value position to start scanning, and since the collimating optical path is formed between the optical module 1 and the scanning lens 33, the system optical path does not need to be readjusted when the user replaces the optical module 1, so that the user can customize the required optical module 1 and then replace the optical module 1 by himself when needed.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

The above embodiment numbers of the present invention are only for description, and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which are merely illustrative and not restrictive, and many modifications may be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. An optical system of a laser scanning imager is arranged on a mechanical scanning device of the laser scanning imager, the mechanical scanning device comprises an X-axis guide rail, a Y-axis guide rail and a Z-axis guide rail, and the X-axis guide rail is arranged on the Y-axis guide rail and the Z-axis guide rail in a sliding manner; characterized in that the optical system comprises:

2. The optical system of claim 1, wherein the optical path structure of the optical module includes a laser optical path and a fluorescence optical path, the laser optical path is sequentially provided with a laser and a dichroic filter, laser light emitted by the laser is reflected out of the optical module through the dichroic filter, and the reflected laser light is reflected into the scanning head by the light splitting device;

3. The optical system of claim 2, wherein the scanning head comprises a first scanning mirror and a plurality of scanning lenses, and/or a second scanning mirror and a plurality of scanning lenses, which are sequentially arranged along the laser propagation path, and the number of the scanning lenses is consistent with the number of the optical modules;

4. The laser scanning imager optical system of claim 3, wherein said beam splitting device includes a set of optical path mirrors, each optical path mirror in said set of optical path mirrors being respectively located between each of said optical modules and said scanning head.

5. The optical system of claim 3, wherein the scanning lens is a double cemented achromat for focusing the laser light emitted by the optical module to a single focal point; the double-cemented achromatic lenses are respectively and movably arranged in the scanning head, so that the positions of the double-cemented achromatic lenses can be adjusted up and down along the laser propagation routes where the double-cemented achromatic lenses are located, and the focuses of the lasers emitted by different optical modules are adjusted to the same focal plane.

6. The optical system of claim 5, wherein the Z-axis guide is a lead screw disposed on the mechanical device along the Z-axis direction, and one end of the lead screw is rotatably connected to a motor disposed in the mechanical device; the scanning head further comprises a lens connecting part, the scanning lenses are movably arranged on the lens connecting part along the laser propagation routes where the scanning lenses are respectively located, the other end of the screw rod is fixedly connected with the lens connecting part, and the scanning lenses arranged on the lens connecting part move along with the screw rod along the Z-axis direction under the rotation of the motor.

7. The optical system of claim 2, wherein the laser is mounted with an emitting lens for collimating laser light emitted from the laser;

8. The optical system of claim 4, wherein the focusing unit comprises a plano-convex lens, and a perforated plane with an aperture of 0.02-1mm is disposed between the plano-convex lens and the photosensor for filtering stray light in fluorescence; and an emission light filter is arranged between the plano-convex lens and the plane with the holes and is used for filtering laser focused into fluorescence of small light spots.

9. The laser scanning imager optical system of claim 8, wherein said optical module further comprises a fluorescent reflector disposed between said dichroic filter and said plano-convex lens, said fluorescent reflector for reflecting fluorescent light transmitted by said dichroic filter into said plano-convex lens;

the fluorescent reflector, the first scanning reflector, the second scanning reflector and the light path reflector are one or more of the following reflectors: an aluminized reflector, a silvered reflector, and a gilded reflector.

10. The optical system of claim 2, wherein said lasers in different said optical modules are respectively selected to match the excitation spectra of different phosphors.