JP2001091835A - Optical microscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical microscope device that optical performance can be demonstrated to the maximum at the time of differential interference observation, the switching of a microscopic method and the adjustment of an observation time can be automatized and the sense of incongruity is not given to an observer when the color of a background is operated to be adjusted. SOLUTION: A microscope main body 1 is provided with a slider 25 on which plural differential interference prisms 11 are mounted, a prism selection means constituted of a guide mechanism 13 and a motor 14L driving the slider 25 in a Y direction so as to selectively insert and pull out one out of the prisms 11 with respect to an optical path and a prism driving means constituted of a guide mechanism 15 and a motor 16 driving the selected prism 11 in an X direction so as to adjust an objective lens 6. Then, it is constituted so that the driving of the slider 25 in the Y direction and that of the prism in the X direction can be simultaneously executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an optical microscope apparatus for observing a sample using a differential interference observation method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when switching optical elements, an operator manually inserts and removes optical elements required for various microscopy methods such as bright field, dark field, and differential interference.
For example, in the case of an epi-illumination (reflection) differential interference spectroscope, it is necessary to insert a polarizer, a Nomarski prism, an analyzer, and the like into the optical path in addition to a normally used bright-field spectroscope.

[0003] The polarizer is an optical element that is inserted into an illumination light path and converts illumination light into linear light in a specific vibration direction. The Nomarski prism is an optical element that decomposes linearly polarized light that has passed through the polarizer into two linearly polarized lights that are orthogonal to each other in the direction of vibration, and also superimposes two lights from the observation sample again.

In the case of epi-illumination observation, one Nomarski prism for both illumination light and observation light is required, and for transmission observation, a pair of Nomarski prisms for illumination light and observation light are required. The analyzer is an optical element that causes light beams that have passed through the Nomarski prism to align in the same vibration direction and cause interference.

Further, a moving mechanism or a rotating mechanism is provided to adjust the contrast by changing the background color. The moving mechanism moves the Nomarski prism in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis. The rotation mechanism rotates the polarizer or the analyzer relative to a quarter-wave plate disposed near the polarizer or analyzer in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis. Normally, the contrast is adjusted by manually operating the operation units of the moving mechanism and the rotating mechanism.

However, it is not necessary to use only one Nomarski prism for all objective lenses. More appropriate contrast can be obtained by using different types of sharing amounts (division amounts of two orthogonal linearly polarized lights) in accordance with the objective lens used for observation. Therefore, two or more Nomarski prisms may be switched and used depending on the selected objective lens.

The localization position of the Nomarski prism (that is, the position where two mutually orthogonal linearly polarized lights intersect) is used in accordance with the pupil position of the objective lens. In addition, it is necessary to move the position of the Nomarski prism in the optical axis direction. Usually, the switching of the Nomarski prism accompanying the switching of the objective lens has been performed manually by a microscope user.

For example, Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 255609
No. 8 discloses a Nomarski-type interference contrast microscope shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. This microscope
A turret 33 having a Nomarski prism 31 dedicated to a low-magnification objective lens and a Nomarski prism 32 dedicated to a high-magnification objective, and a gear 3
An elevation drive mechanism for moving the turret 33 up and down via the 5, 36 and a switching mechanism for selecting the Nomarski prism by rotating the turret 33 according to the magnification of the objective lens to be used.

According to this microscope, two types of Nomarski prisms 3 are formed by rotating the turret 33.
1, 32 can be used properly.

Further, since the horizontal center lines of the Nomarski prisms 31 and 32 are arranged so as to coincide with the circumferential direction of the turret 33, the background color can be changed by slightly rotating the turret 33.

Further, by moving the turret 33 up and down by the elevation drive mechanism, the back focus position (pupil position) of each objective lens and the localization position of the Nomarski prism can be matched.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-133115 discloses a microscope in which various microscopic methods can be selected by inserting and removing various optical members in an optical path.

This microscope has a storage unit, a command unit and an insertion / removal control unit. Here, the storage unit stores an insertion / removal state of each optical member corresponding to each microscopy method. The command section outputs a command signal corresponding to the microscopy method commanded by the operation of the operation member. The insertion / removal control unit reads the insertion / removal state of each optical member corresponding to the microscopy method in response to the command signal from the storage unit, and outputs a signal for controlling the insertion / removal of the optical member to the insertion / removal unit. I do.

According to this microscope, it is not necessary to manually operate each optical member and insert / remove the optical path as in the prior art, and it is possible to automatically select a desired microscopic method only by operating the operating member. .

[0015]

However, the microscope described in Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2555608 described above is configured so that the interference color is changed only by the slight rotation of the turret 33. In this case, the Nomarski prism moves in an arc along the rotation of the turret 33, and when changing the background color, the optical axis of the Nomarski prism is oriented in the correct direction with respect to the vibration direction of the polarizer and the analyzer. A little from the original optical performance.

Further, with the switching of the objective lens,
When the turret 33 is rotated to switch the Nomarski prism from a low-magnification objective to a high-magnification objective, or vice versa, it is necessary to readjust the background color that was observed before the switching. Was troublesome.

In addition, since the amount of sharing varies depending on the type of Nomarski prism, the rate of change of the background color with respect to the rotation of the turret varies depending on the type of prism, giving a sense of incongruity to the observer. There was also.

Further, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-133115
In the publication, a microcomputer reads out the insertion / removal state of various optical members at the time of differential interference observation stored in the storage circuit and issues an insertion / removal control command. As a result, a Nomarski prism corresponding to the objective lens in the optical path, Polarizing plate, 1
An optical path member including a / 4 wavelength plate is inserted into the optical path.

At the time of differential interference observation, in order to adjust the contrast by changing the background color, a moving mechanism for moving the above-mentioned Nomarski prism in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis, or the polarizer or the analyzer is orthogonal to the optical axis. In the plane to be rotated, a rotation mechanism for relatively rotating with respect to the quarter-wave plate arranged in the vicinity is required,
This publication does not disclose the technology and cannot determine whether it is feasible.

The method of rotating the polarizer or the analyzer to change the background color is relatively easy to electrically operate, but on the other hand, in terms of optical performance, compared to the method of moving the Nomarski prism itself, it is described below. There is a disadvantage that it is inferior in the point.

First, the change amount of the phase difference is -λ / 2 to +
Since only λ / 2 can be secured, a background color of a high-order sensitive color area cannot be obtained.

Second, since the light passing through the polarizer and the quarter-wave plate is not completely circularly polarized light due to the influence of the half mirror for introducing illumination light, the contrast is reduced.

Third, a quarter-wave plate has an effect as a quarter-wave plate only at a specific wavelength, and is shifted from a quarter-wave in other wavelength ranges, so that coloring occurs.

Fourth, the image moves with the rotation of the element due to the wedge angle of the element itself.

Therefore, the present invention is designed to maximize the optical performance in differential interference observation, and to automate the switching of the microscopy method and the adjustment at the time of observation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical microscope apparatus which does not give an observer an uncomfortable feeling in a background color adjustment operation.

[0026]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to an invention corresponding to claim 1, wherein a slider on which a plurality of differential interference prisms for performing differential interference observation are mounted, and the slider is provided. Prism selecting means for driving one of the plurality of differential interference prisms in a first direction for selectively inserting / removing one on the optical path; and adjusting the optical element by adjusting the selected differential interference prism. And a prism driving means for driving in a second direction for performing the operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the prism driving means according to the first aspect includes a first driving means for selecting the differential interference prism by the prism selecting means. An optical microscope apparatus configured to be able to simultaneously perform driving in a direction and driving in a second direction for adjusting an optical element in accordance with the type of the differential interference prism to be switched to. .

According to the present invention, in a microscope apparatus for performing differential interference observation, the configuration is such that the optical performance can be sufficiently exhibited, the retardation adjustment can be performed, and the differential interference prism switching can be performed even in the observation accompanying the objective switching. Is performed automatically, and the retardation position can be quickly adjusted.

[0029]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The schematic configuration of the embodiment of the present invention is as follows. A slider on which a plurality of differential interference prisms for performing differential interference observation are mounted on a microscope main body, and a first for selectively inserting and removing one of the plurality of differential interference prisms from the plurality of differential interference prisms on an optical path.
And prism driving means for driving the selected differential interference prism in a second direction for adjusting the optical element.

The prism driving means drives in the first direction for selecting the differential interference prism by the prism selecting means, and adjusts the optical element in accordance with the type of the differential interference prism to be switched. And the driving in the second direction can be performed at the same time.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the entire configuration of an optical microscope apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. An observation light source 2, a polarizer 3, a mirror unit 4, a revo-prism unit 5, For example, three types of objective lenses 6
a, 6b, 6c, a stage 7 on which the sample 8 is placed, an analyzer 9, an observation optical path system 10, for example, three types of differential interference prisms 11a, 11b, 11c.

Of these, the revo-prism unit 5, the objective lenses 6a to 6c, the stage 7, and the like are all driven electrically by an instruction from a hand switch 17 described later.

The portion of the revo-prism unit 5 in FIG. 1 corresponds to the revo-prism unit 5 in FIG.

The hand switch 17 is a part where the user actually inputs the switching of the objective lens, the switching to the differential interference observation, the change of the retardation amount which is the change of the background color during the differential interference observation, and the like. As shown, an objective switch instruction switch 171 for switching input of the objective lenses 6a to 6c, a differential interference observation instruction switch 172 for switching differential interference observation, and a retardation change instruction JOG encoder 173 for inputting a change in retardation amount. And a microscopic method changeover instruction switch 174, a stage movement amount instruction JOG
An encoder 175 and the like are included.

Here, the retardation refers to an optical path difference between light passing through the sample and light bypassing the sample in a differential interference microscope.

The microscope control unit 18 is responsible for controlling the microscope main body 1. The microscope control unit 18 receives input signals from the objective switch instruction switch 171 and the differential interference observation instruction switch 172 of the hand switch 17 and the like.
Transfer to the prism switching control unit 20, the prism drive control unit 21, etc.
The signal of the OG encoder 173 is transmitted to the prism drive control unit 21
Has been handed over.

Also, the current objective lens information output from the objective switching control unit 19 and the objective lens information to be switched when the objective lens switching instruction is performed are transferred to the prism switching control unit 19, and the prism switching control is performed. It also transfers the current prism information output from the unit 20 and the prism information to be switched when the objective lens switching instruction is issued to the prism drive control unit 21.

The objective switching control section 19 switches the objective lens by driving an electric revolver (not shown), and outputs information of the currently selected objective lens to the microscope control section 18. In addition, when an objective lens switching instruction is input from the hand switch 17 via the microscope control unit 18, the motorized revolver is driven to switch to the target objective lens.

Further, it has a function of transmitting the objective lens information of the switching target to the prism switching control unit 20 via the microscope control unit 18.

The prism selecting means (specific configuration will be described later) drives the slider 25A supported by the guide mechanism 13 so as to be able to move directly in the prism switching direction, and the slider 25A in the prism switching direction (Y direction). It is composed of a motor 14 and a prism switching control unit 20 for driving the motor 14. The objective lens information from the objective switching control unit 19 via the microscope control unit 18 moves the slider 25 in the prism switching direction (Y direction). By driving, the prisms 11a to 11c corresponding to the objective lenses 6a to 6c are switched.

The currently selected prism is determined by the type sensor 24. The information of the currently selected prism and the information of the target prism when the prism switching is performed are stored. Also, it has a function of coming to the prism drive control unit 21 via the microscope control unit 18.

The prism driving means (specific configuration will be described later) is a slider 25 including the guide mechanism 13.
A is set in the direction (X
Guide mechanism 15 that is supported so as to be able to move linearly in
, A motor 16 for driving the slider 25B including the guide mechanism 13 in a direction for changing the retardation amount of the prism, and a prism drive control unit 21 for driving the motor 16; The prisms 11a to 11c are driven in a direction in which the retardation amount is changed (X direction) in accordance with information on the objective lens from the objective switching control unit 19 and a JOG input signal of a retardation change instruction from the hand switch 17. I have.

The counter 22 and the sensor 23 manage the coordinates of the differential interference prism. The sensor 23 manages the origin of the moving direction, and the counter 22 manages the pulse value of the motor 16, for example, a stepping motor. 22
The coordinates of the prism in the direction in which the retardation changes can be detected from the value of.

Here, specific configurations of the guide mechanism 13, the motor 14, and the slider 25A, and the guide mechanism 15, the motor 16, and the slider 25B will be described. The guide mechanism 13 is movably mounted on the microscope main body 1. A guide tenon 13a having, for example, a trapezoidal cross section is formed on the upper surface, and a motor 14 having a spur gear 14a fixed to an end of the rotating shaft is mounted. Have been. Prisms 11a to 11c are attached to slider 25A in a straight line at a certain interval from each other, and holes 12 are formed at positions close to prism 11c, and spur gears 14a fixed to motor 14 are formed.
A rack groove 25a is formed on the side surface that meshes with the guide groove 13a, and a guide groove (not shown) is formed to allow the guide tenon 13a to be fitted and to be movable in the Y arrow direction.

Then, the guide mechanism 1 is attached to the microscope main body 1 so as to be orthogonal to the guide mechanism 13 on the lower surface side of the guide mechanism 13.
The guide mechanism 15 has a guide tenon 15a having a trapezoidal cross section, for example, on its upper surface. A guide groove (not shown) is formed on the lower surface of the slider 25B so that the guide tenon 15a is fitted therein and can be moved in the direction of the arrow X. The upper surface of the slider 25B is formed on the lower surface of the guide mechanism 13 by the guide mechanism 13. It is fixed to be orthogonal. A motor 16 in which a gear 16a is fixed to a rotating shaft is attached to the guide mechanism 15, and the gear 16a is attached to a slider 25B.
And mesh with a rack gear 25b formed on the side surface.

FIG. 4 shows a main configuration of the prism drive control section 21. The prism drive control section 21 includes a target value setting section 211, a current value setting section 212, a motor control section 213, and a conversion section 214.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between the coordinate position in the X direction of the prism, which is the direction in which the retardation of each prism is changed, and the retardation, showing how the retardation changes depending on the position of the prism. It has become.

The current value setting unit 212 is configured to change the retardation in the direction (X direction) based on the signal from the counter 22.
The current coordinates of the prism are stored. The target value setting unit 211 similarly sets and stores the coordinates of the movement target of the prism in the direction in which the retardation is changed. During differential interference observation, a retardation change instruction from the hand switch 17 via the microscope control unit is provided. The target coordinates are set and stored in accordance with the JOG input signal. When the prism is switched, the target coordinates are stored based on information from the conversion unit 214.

When the prism is switched, the conversion unit 214 uses the prism information as the switching target from the prism switching control unit 19 so that the retardation position before the prism switching and the retardation position after the prism switching are the same in the X direction. When setting the target coordinates, specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, when switching from the xa coordinate position of the prism a to the prism b, the coordinate position of xb such that the retardation position becomes the same is set as the target coordinate value. It is to be set.

The motor control unit 213 calculates a difference between the current coordinates in the X direction stored in the current value setting unit 212 and the target coordinate values in the X direction stored in the target value setting unit 211, and performs motor calculation. By performing the control in step 16, the prism is driven to the target coordinates.

Next, the prism driving operation during differential interference observation according to the present invention will be described. When the differential interference observation is selected by the hand switch 17, first, the microscope controller 18
The prism switching control unit 20 selects the prisms 11a to 11c based on the current objective lens information from the objective switching control unit 19 via.

The prisms 11a to 11c are connected to the objective lens 6a.
6c, and the selected prism is inserted into the optical path by moving the slider 25 in the Y direction. Here, in the case of the objective lens 6a, the prism 11a is selected.

Next, a case where the retardation amount is adjusted will be described. When the input of the change of the retardation is performed by the retardation instruction JOG encoder 173 of the hand switch 17, the prism drive control unit 21
The target value setting unit 211 sets the target coordinates in the X direction to which the prism is to be moved, based on the input amount of the JOG encoder 173. The motor control unit 213 controls the driving of the motor 16 based on the set target coordinate value and the current coordinate value of the current value setting unit 212 so as to drive the prism to the target coordinate. Accordingly, the slider 25B is driven in the direction in which the amount of retardation of the prism changes according to the input amount of the JOG encoder 173.

Next, a case where the objective lens is switched during the differential interference observation will be described. Here, switching from the objective lens 6a to the objective lens 6b is performed, and the differential interference prism corresponding to the objective lens 6b is the prism 11b. During differential interference observation with the objective lens 6a, the objective switch 171 of the hand switch 17
When the switching input to the objective lens 6b is made at
The objective switching control unit 19 switches the objective lens of the electric revolver unit from the objective lens 6a to the objective lens 6b, and transmits information of the objective lens 6b to be switched to the prism switching control unit 19 via the microscope control unit 18. Outputs information.

The prism switching controller 20 inserts the prism 11b into the optical path by moving the slider 25A in the Y direction based on information on the objective lens 6b to be switched.

Further, as shown in FIG.
When the coordinate position in the X direction is xa, the current position setting unit 212 of the prism drive control unit 21 and the coordinate position of the prism 11b converted by the conversion unit 214 are set to xb so that the retardation positions are the same. Thus, the target value is set, and the slider 25 is driven in the X direction. Therefore, when the objective lens is switched during the differential interference observation, the differential interference prism corresponding to the objective lens is automatically selected, the retardation position can be adjusted, and the driving of the prism selection can be performed. Since the retardation adjustment can be performed simultaneously, the prism can be switched very quickly.

As described above, according to the first embodiment,
At the time of differential interference observation, the configuration is such that the optical performance can be sufficiently exhibited, and while the retardation adjustment can be performed, the switching of the prisms 11a to 11c is automatically performed even in the observation involving the switching of the objective lenses 6a to 6c. In addition, since the retardation position can be quickly adjusted, it is possible to perform favorable differential interference observation without giving a sense of incongruity to the user.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the prism drive control unit 21 in the configuration diagram of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is configured such that the target relative coordinate setting unit 215 and the conversion unit 21 as shown in FIG.
6, target absolute coordinate setting section 217, current value setting section 212,
And a motor control unit 213.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the relative coordinate position in the X direction of the prism, which is the direction in which the retardation of each prism is changed, and the change in the retardation, and each prism has common coordinates. Current value setting unit 21
2. As in the first embodiment, the current coordinates of the prism in the direction in which the retardation is changed (X direction) are stored based on the signal from the counter 22.

The target relative coordinate setting section 215 sets and stores the coordinates for the movement of the prism in the relative coordinate values as shown in FIG. 7, and controls the microscope control section during differential interference observation. The target coordinates are set and stored in accordance with the JOG input signal of the retardation change instruction from the hand switch 17 via the switch.

Further, since the relative coordinates are common to all the prisms, the same target coordinates are shown for the JOG input signal of the retardation change instruction regardless of which prism is selected.

The conversion unit 216 includes the target relative coordinate setting unit 21
The conversion is performed from the relative target coordinate values stored in 5 to specific coordinate values corresponding to each prism as shown in FIG. 5, that is, the relative coordinate value is xp in FIG. In this case, the target absolute coordinate setting unit 215 sets xa for the prism 11a, xb for the prism 11b, and xc for the prism 11c.

The destination absolute coordinate setting section 217 is
In FIG. 6, a value obtained by converting the target value of the relative coordinates shown in FIG. 7 into the target coordinates of the coordinates shown in FIG. 5 is stored. The motor control unit 213 performs a difference calculation or the like from the current coordinates in the X direction stored in the current value setting unit 212 and the target coordinate values in the X direction stored in the target absolute coordinate setting unit 217. By performing the control, the prism is driven to the target coordinates.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. When the differential interference observation is selected by the hand switch 17, the selection of the differential interference prism is performed by the prism switching control unit 20 based on the objective lens information from the objective switching control unit 19 via the microscope control unit 18. Then, the selected prism is inserted on the optical path.

Here, it is assumed that the differential interference prism 11a is selected when the objective lens 6a is used as in the first embodiment. Subsequently, a case where the adjustment of the retardation amount is performed will be described. When the retardation change JOG encoder 173 of the hand switch 17 inputs a change in the retardation amount, the target relative coordinate setting unit 215 of the prism drive control unit 21 determines that the prism shown in FIG. Set the relative destination coordinates of the direction.

Next, the conversion unit 216 converts the target coordinates of the target relative coordinate setting unit 215 into coordinate values of absolute values corresponding to the respective prisms as shown in FIG. 5, and sets the target absolute coordinate setting unit 217. . That is, in FIG. 7, when the target coordinate is xp, since the target is the prism 11a, the coordinate of xa is set in the target absolute coordinate setting unit 217 here. Motor control unit 2
A motor 13 controls the motor to drive the prism to the target coordinates based on the set target coordinates and the current coordinates of the current value setting unit 212.

Therefore, no matter which prism is selected, driving is performed so as to show the same change in retardation with respect to the input amount of JOG. Next, a case where the objective lens is switched during the differential interference observation will be described. Here, it is assumed that switching from the objective lens 6a to the objective lens 6b is performed as in the first embodiment, and the differential interference prism corresponding to the objective lens 6b is the prism 11b.

During the differential interference observation with the objective lens 6a, when the switching to the objective lens 6b is input by the objective switch instruction switch 171 of the hand switch 17, the slider 25A is moved in the Y direction by the prism switching controller 20. By moving, the prism 11b is inserted on the optical path.

In FIG. 7, when the relative position of the prism is xp, that is, when the observation is performed at the xa position in the prism 11a of FIG. 5, when the prism is switched, the target absolute coordinate setting unit 217 is set. The conversion unit 216 also changes the target value from xa to xb. The slider 25B is driven in the X direction based on the new target value.

Therefore, when the objective lens is switched during the differential observation, the differential interference prism corresponding to the objective lens is automatically selected, the retardation position can be adjusted, and the prism selection drive can be performed. And the retardation adjustment can be performed simultaneously, so that the prism can be switched very quickly. Further, in response to a JOG input for changing the retardation, any prism will show the same change in retardation.

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
At the time of differential interference observation, it is a configuration that can sufficiently exhibit optical performance, and even in observation such as switching of the objective lens,
Differential interference prism switching is performed automatically,
It is possible to quickly adjust the retardation position to the turret, and even if the prism is changed, the amount of change of the retardation with respect to the JOG input of the retardation adjustment becomes the same, so that good differential interference observation without giving the user a feeling of strangeness Becomes possible.

In the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, an example in which the prism switching directions Y and the directions X for adjusting the retardations of the prisms 11a to 11c are orthogonal to each other is described. However, the present invention is not limited to the point that it is possible to simultaneously drive the switching direction of the prism and the direction of adjusting the retardation with the configuration that maximizes the optical performance. For example, as shown in FIG.
1a to 11c may be configured such that the prism switching direction Y 'and the prism adjustment direction X are obtuse angles to each other.
The prism unit can be formed compact. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the method described in the present embodiment, and can be applied to other known methods.

According to the above-described embodiment, in a microscope apparatus for performing differential interference observation, the configuration is such that the optical performance can be sufficiently exhibited, the retardation can be adjusted, and the observation that accompanies the objective switching can be performed. Since the differential interference prism switching is automatically performed and the retardation position can be quickly adjusted,
Good differential interference observation becomes possible without giving the user a feeling of strangeness.

[0074]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the configuration is such that the optical performance in differential interference observation can be maximized, the switching of the microscopic method and the adjustment at the time of observation are automated, and the observation is performed. It is possible to provide an optical microscope apparatus which does not give a feeling of strangeness in a background color adjustment operation to a user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a first embodiment of an optical microscope apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining a revo-prism unit unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the hand switch of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a prism drive control unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing changes in a prism position and retardation for explaining the operations of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a hand switch according to a second embodiment of the optical microscope apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a change in a prism position and a retardation for explaining the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a modified example of the revo-prism unit unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a cross section of a part of a turret board used in a conventional optical microscope.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 9 cut along the optical axis direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Microscope main body 2 ... Observation light source 3 ... Polarizer 4 ... Mirror unit 5 ... Revo-prism unit 6a-6c ... Objective lens 7 ... Stage 8 ... Sample 9 ... Analyzer 10 ... Observation optical path system 11a-11c ... Prism 12 ... Hole DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Guide mechanism 14 ... Motor 15 ... Guide mechanism 16 ... Motor 17 ... Hand switch 18 ... Microscope control part 19 ... Object switching control part 20 ... Prism switching control part 21 ... Prism drive control part 22 ... Counter 23 ... Sensor 24 ... Type Sensors 25A, 25B Slider 171 Instruction switch 171 Switch 172 Differential interference observation instruction switch 173 JOG encoder 174 Instruction switch 175 JOG encoder 211 Target value setting section 212 Current value setting section 213 Motor control section 214 ... Conversion unit 15 ... object relative coordinate setting unit 216 ... converting portion 217 ... objective absolute coordinate setting unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A slider on which a plurality of differential interference prisms for performing differential interference observation are mounted, and the slider is selected from the plurality of differential interference prisms.
A prism selecting means for selectively driving one of the differential interference prisms in the first direction for inserting and removing one of them on the optical path; and a driving means for driving the selected differential interference prism in a second direction for adjusting the optical element. An optical microscope apparatus comprising: a prism driving unit for performing the operation. 2. An optical element, wherein said prism driving means is driven in a first direction for selecting said differential interference prism by said prism selection means, and is performed in accordance with a type of said differential interference prism to be switched to. 2. The optical microscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving in the second direction for performing the adjustment is performed at the same time.