JP2003279858A - Optical axis correction device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical axis correction device for correcting the deviation of the optical axes of a microscope body and a confocal microscope head in the case of connecting the confocal microscope head to the microscope main body. <P>SOLUTION: The optical axis correction device 50 comprises a first correction member 51 having a fitting shaft part 52 attached coaxially with the optical axis J1 of the microscope body to the lens barrel 9 of the microscope body, a large diameter part 53 connected to the upper part, a first through-hole 55 passing through the large diameter part 53 and the fitting shaft part 52, and a guide surface 56 annularly formed at the upper part, and a second correction member 71 having a second shaft part 72, a sliding surface 73 provided projectingly to the outer side in a radial direction on the upper end peripheral edge part and capable of being abutted to the guide surface 56 and slid on the guide surface 56 in the state of inserting the second shaft part 72 to the first through-hole 55, and a second through-hole 75 vertically passing through the second shaft part 72 and fitting the engaging cylinder part 35 of the confocal microscope head 20. The normal line of the sliding surface 73 and the normal line of the guide surface 56 passing through the abutting positions of the sliding surface 73 and the guide surface 56 and a fitting center axis S2 passing through the fitting center of the second through-hole 75 intersect at a point O. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical axis correcting device, and more particularly, it is used for connecting an optical equipment unit to a microscope, and the optical axis of the microscope and the optical axis of the optical equipment unit are coaxial with each other. The present invention relates to an optical axis correction device for correction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a microscope, the excitation light emitted from a light source is guided and emitted to the microscope main body, and at the same time, fluorescent light emitted from an object placed on the microscope main body and irradiated with this excitation light is made incident. In some cases, an optical device head for emitting light to a fluorescence measuring device for measuring the fluorescence amount of this fluorescence is connected and used. The optical instrument head is configured to focus the excitation light emitted from the light source on the image plane inside the optical instrument head, and the microscope main body emits the excitation light onto the test object that is conjugate with the image plane of the optical instrument head. It is configured to collect light.
The fluorescence emitted from the test object travels in the microscope body in the direction opposite to the direction in which the excitation light has traveled, and is collected on the image plane of the optical instrument head. The fluorescence condensed on the image plane of the optical instrument head travels in the opposite direction along the illumination light path along which the excitation light has traveled, travels along the observation light path branched from the illumination light path, and is sent to the fluorescence measuring instrument.

Here, when the optical axis of the illumination optical path of the optical equipment head and the optical axis of the microscope main body are deviated from each other, the excitation light is emitted from an objective lens which is provided in the microscope main body and focuses the excitation light on the object to be inspected. The pupil of the excitation light is shifted, and the excitation light irradiates the test object in a biased state. When such biased excitation light is applied to the test object, the fluorescence emitted from the test object becomes uneven in the brightness of the fluorescent image focused on the image plane of the optical device head (hereinafter, This phenomenon is referred to as shading). Further, the amount of fluorescence emitted from the test object is weak. Therefore, it is difficult for the fluorescence amount measuring instrument to obtain an accurate fluorescence amount even if a fluorescence image having a weak light amount and shading is sent to the fluorescence amount measuring instrument. Further, a fluorescent dye sample having a uniform concentration is placed on the stage of the fluorescence microscope in advance, and the fluorescent dye sample is irradiated with excitation light through the optical instrument head and the microscope body, and is obtained from the fluorescence generated from the fluorescent dye sample. Although a method of processing an image to correct shading has been proposed, this method requires an image for shading correction each time the sample is changed, which is troublesome.

[0004]

Therefore, each of them may be manufactured so that the optical axis of the microscope main body and the optical axis of the illumination path of the optical device head do not deviate with the optical equipment head mounted on the microscope main body. However, since the optical axis adjustment of the microscope main body is performed by adjusting prisms, mirrors, etc. during the manufacture of the microscope, there is a limit to complete optical axis adjustment of the microscope main body. Further, since the microscope main body and the optical device head are separate items and are adjusted independently of each other, when they are combined, there is a possibility that the deviation of the optical axes of the two will be further increased. Further, no optical axis adjusting mechanism is used to eliminate the deviation between the optical axis of the illumination path of the optical device head and the optical axis of the microscope main body with the optical device head attached to the microscope main body. As a result, even if there is a deviation between the optical axis of the microscope body and the optical axis of the optical device head, there is a problem in that it cannot be corrected.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and provides an optical axis correcting device capable of correcting the deviation of the optical axes of the two when the optical apparatus head is connected to the microscope main body. With the goal.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, an optical axis correcting apparatus according to the present invention is an optical equipment unit (for example, the confocal microscope head 20 in the embodiment).
And a microscope (for example, the microscope main body 3 in the embodiment) are connected to each other, and an optical axis correction device for correcting the optical axis of the optical device unit and the optical axis of the microscope to be a single axis is provided. A first fitting shaft portion (for example, the fitting shaft portion 52 in the embodiment) that is fitted and attached coaxially with the optical axis of the microscope, and vertically penetrates the first fitting shaft portion to enter the microscope. Alternatively, a first correction member having a first through hole that allows the emitted light to pass therethrough and a guide surface portion (for example, the guide surface 56 in the embodiment) formed in an annular shape in the upper portion of the first through hole and extending obliquely upward. A second shaft portion that is inserted from an upper portion of the first through hole and a peripheral portion of an upper end portion of the second shaft portion that projects radially outward, and the second shaft portion is inserted into the first through hole. In this state, it can be slid on the guide surface by contacting the guide surface while facing the guide surface. A sliding surface portion (for example, the sliding surface 73 in the embodiment) that swingably supports the shaft portion to the left and right, and a unit holding portion that is formed at the upper end portion of the second shaft portion and that fits and holds the optical device unit ( For example, the second in the embodiment
A second correction member having a through hole 75) and a second through hole that vertically penetrates the second shaft portion and the unit holding portion and allows incident or emitted light to pass therethrough, and the sliding surface portion has a guide surface portion. When the first correction member and the second correction member are cross-sectionally viewed on a plane including the fitting center axis line that passes through the fitting center of the unit holding portion, the sliding surface portion and the guide surface portion are in contact with each other. The normal of the sliding surface and the normal of the guide surface that pass through the contact position,
The fitting center axis is configured to intersect at one point (for example, point O in the embodiment).

According to the optical axis correcting device having the above-mentioned structure, in the state in which the sliding surface portion is brought into contact with the guide surface portion, the first correcting member and the first correcting member are formed on the surface including the fitting center axis line passing through the fitting center of the unit holding portion. When the second correction member is cross-sectionally viewed, the normal line of the sliding surface portion and the normal line of the guiding surface portion passing through the contact position where the sliding surface portion and the guide surface portion contact each other and the fitting center axis line intersect at one point. With this configuration, the second correction member can be swung left and right with respect to the first correction member with one point as the swing center. Therefore, when the first fitting shaft portion is fitted to the connection portion and the optical device unit is mounted to the unit holding portion, the central axis line passing through the center of the first fitting shaft portion intersects at one point. If the unit holding part is configured so that the optical axis of the optical device unit intersects at one point, the optical device unit mounted on the unit holding part is swung to the left and right, thereby The optical axis of the instrument unit and the optical axis of the microscope can be uniaxial.

Further, in the optical axis correcting device having the above structure,
The sliding surface is formed by a surface having a predetermined radius of curvature, and the guide surface is formed by a surface having a radius of curvature approximately the same as the radius of curvature or in a direction perpendicular to the normal to the sliding surface at the contact position. It may be formed by an extended surface.

According to the optical axis correcting device having the above structure, the sliding surface portion is formed of a surface having a predetermined radius of curvature, and the guide surface portion is a surface having a radius of curvature substantially the same as the radius of curvature or abutting. If the sliding surface slides on the guide surface when it is formed by a surface extending in the direction perpendicular to the normal to the sliding surface at the position, the fitting center axis passing through the fitting center of the unit holder will Regardless of the size of the rocking angle, the rocking can be always performed to the left and right with one point as the rocking center.

Further, in the optical axis correction device having the above structure,
The first fitting shaft portion (e.g., the large diameter portion 53 in the embodiment) extending downward from the guide surface portion is disposed on the side wall so as to face the first through hole in the diametrical direction in a plan view, and the first through hole in the radial direction. And a pair of first fulcrum means (for example, setscrews 64a and 64b in the embodiment) which are freely movable, and are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the pair of first fulcrum means in a plan view and are movable in the radial direction of the first through hole. A pair of second fulcrum means (for example,
Set screws 65a and 65b) in the embodiment may be provided.

According to the optical axis correcting device having the above structure, the pair of first fulcrum means or the pair of second fulcrum means is brought into contact with the side surface of the side wall of the second fitting shaft portion inserted into the first through hole. In this state, when the two axes that are orthogonal to each other in the horizontal plane are set as the X direction and the Y direction, the second correction member can be swung in the X direction and the Y direction with one point as the swing center.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. This embodiment shows a mode of a fluorescence microscope for observing fluorescence emitted from a test object when the test object is irradiated with light. In this specification, for convenience of description, the coordinate axes shown in FIG. 1 are defined as the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis for description.

First, before describing the optical axis correcting apparatus according to the present invention, a fluorescence microscope and a confocal microscope head connected via the optical axis correcting apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the fluorescence microscope 1 is provided with a microscope body 3 formed in a U-shape in a side view, a lens barrel 9 attached to the upper portion of the microscope body 3, and a lens barrel 9 below the lens barrel 9. The first objective lens 13 and the stage 17 disposed below the first objective lens 13 and on which an object (not shown) is placed are configured. The lens barrel 9 is in the shape of a rectangular tube, has an opening (not shown) at the top and bottom, and is hollow inside. The lens barrel 9 is attached in a state of being fitted to an opening (not shown) (not shown) formed in the upper part of a vertically extending through hole (not shown) formed in the upper end of the microscope body 3 The second objective lens 10 is disposed inside.

A disc-shaped revolver 5 is rotatably attached to a lower portion of a through hole formed in an upper end of the microscope main body 3, and a lower surface of the revolver 5 includes a first objective lens 13 and a first objective lens 13 of different types. A shift amount detection tool (not shown) for reading a shift amount of the pupil of excitation light, which will be described later, emitted from the objective lens 13 is detachably attached. The revolver 5 is rotated to move the first revolver 5 to the measurement position below the second objective lens 10.
When either the objective lens 13 or the deviation amount detection tool is moved, the first objective lens 13 is placed on the optical axis J1 of the microscope body 3.
The optical axis of the misregistration amount detection tool is arranged coaxially.

The deviation amount detecting tool is a cylindrical tool body (not shown) detachably attached to the revolver 5, and an index plate (not shown) provided in the tool body and provided with an index line 15. ) Is included. The index plate is made of a material that allows excitation light and fluorescence emitted from the test object to pass therethrough, and the index line 15 is two orthogonal lines 15a that are orthogonal to each other.
And a plurality of graduations 15b having a predetermined gap on these orthogonal lines 15a and a circular line 15c centering on the intersection of the two orthogonal lines.

The microscope optical path passing through the first objective lens 13 and the second objective lens 10 arranged in the fluorescence microscope 1 is connected to the image plane 21 of the confocal microscope head 20 mounted on the upper part of the lens barrel 9. The formed image is formed so as to form an image on a test object placed on the stage 17, and the optical axis J1 of the microscope optical path extends in a substantially vertical direction.

Next, the confocal microscope head 20 will be described. The confocal microscope head 20 guides the excitation light emitted from a light source (not shown) and emits the excitation light to the microscope main body 3, and makes the fluorescence emitted from the test object irradiated with this excitation light incident, and the fluorescence amount of this fluorescence is changed. It has a function of emitting to a fluorescence measuring device (not shown) for measurement. The confocal microscope head 20 having such a function is configured to include an optical system 23 and a housing 31 including the optical system 23. The optical system 23 has an irradiation path for condensing light from a light source (not shown) (for example, a laser light source) on the imaging surface 21, and an observation path for observing fluorescence that is return light from the test object. Is configured.

The irradiation path includes a collimator lens 24, a dichroic mirror 25, an XY galvanometer mirror 26 and a condenser lens 2 in this order from the upstream side of the excitation light emitted from the light source.
And 7 are included. The collimator lens 24 has a function of converting excitation light from a light source into parallel rays, and the dichroic mirror 25 reflects light having a wavelength around a specific wavelength or a wavelength shorter than this wavelength, and transmits light having other wavelengths. Have a function. The XY galvanometer mirror 26 includes a plurality of reflection mirrors, and is configured to scan the excitation light reflected by the dichroic mirror 25 in the front-rear and left-right directions by changing the tilt angle of the reflection mirrors. The condenser lens 27 has a function of condensing light. As a result, the excitation light incident on the collimator lens 24 is imaged on the imaging surface 21 through the irradiation optical path.

On the other hand, the observation path includes a part of the irradiation path (the condenser lens 27, the galvano mirror 26 and the dichroic mirror 25), the condenser lens 28, the pinhole 29 and the like. The observation path is configured to form a fluorescent image focused on the image forming surface 21 on the pinhole 29. As a result, it is possible to remove light (flare) that does not contribute to image formation when the fluorescence passes through the pinhole 29. The housing 31 is in the shape of a hollow box, the right side surface of which is connected to an optical fiber cable 32 for passing light emitted from a light source, and the left side surface thereof is connected to an optical fiber cable 33 for passing fluorescence. A fluorescence measuring device (not shown) for measuring the amount of fluorescence is connected to the tip of the optical fiber cable 33. A tubular engagement tubular portion 35 protruding downward is attached to a lower portion of the housing 31. A step portion 37 protruding in the left-right direction is formed in an annular shape on the upper portion of the engagement cylinder portion 35 shown in FIG. 38 is formed in an annular shape. The optical axis of the excitation light reflected by the dichroic mirror 25 and traveling toward the galvano mirror 26 is
Hereinafter, this is referred to as the optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20.

Next, an optical axis correction device for connecting the confocal microscope head 20 to the above-mentioned fluorescence microscope 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2B, the optical axis correction device 50 includes a first correction member 51 and an upper portion of the first correction member 51 that is swingable in the X-axis and Y-axis directions shown in FIG. And 71. The first correction member 51 has a cylindrical shape,
It has a fitting shaft portion 52 that is detachably fitted into an opening 9 a provided in the upper portion of the lens barrel 9. A large diameter portion 53 having a diameter larger than that of the fitting shaft portion 52 is provided above the fitting shaft portion 52 in a state of extending upward, and a horizontal direction is provided between the large diameter portion 53 and the fitting shaft portion 52. A step portion 54 projecting inward is formed in an annular shape.
When the fitting shaft 52 is fitted into the opening 9a of the lens barrel 9 and the lower surface of the step portion 54 abuts the upper surface of the lens barrel 9, the fitting center axis S1 of the fitting shaft 52 is shown in FIG. The optical axis J1 of the microscope body 3 shown in FIG. A first through hole 55 that penetrates vertically is formed in the first correction member 51, and a guide surface 56 having a predetermined radius of curvature is formed in an annular shape on the upper portion of the first through hole 55 so as to connect to the first through hole 55. There is. Details of the guide surface 56 will be described later.

On the upper part of the large diameter portion 53, A- in FIG.
2A showing the cross-sectional view of the portion corresponding to the arrow A is further added and described, a pair of first and second opposing faces arranged at a position radially outer than the diameter of the first through hole 55 in the X-axis direction. One screw hole 59 is formed, and the first through hole 5 is formed in the Y-axis direction.
A pair of second screw holes 61 are formed at positions radially outward of the diameter of No. 5 so as to face each other. A pair of first screw holes 5
The central axis line passing through 9 and the central axis line passing through the pair of second screw holes 61 are orthogonal to each other in a plan view, and the intersection point of these central axis lines is located on the fitting central axis line S1 of the fitting shaft portion 52.
Set screws 64a and 64b are respectively screwed into the pair of first screw holes 59, and the set screw 65 is inserted into the pair of second screw holes 61.
a and 65b are screwed together. The ends of these setscrews are formed in a hemispherical shape. These FIG. 2 (a)
Large diameter portion 5 between the first screw hole 59 and the second screw hole 61 shown in FIG.
A through hole 63 extending to the fitting center axis S1 side is formed in the upper part of 3.

On the other hand, the second correction member 71 is inserted from the upper part of the first through hole 55 penetrating the large diameter portion 53, and has a second shaft portion 72 having a diameter smaller than that of the first through hole 55, and a second shaft portion. The second shaft portion 7 is formed on the peripheral edge portion of the upper end of the second member 72 so as to project radially outward.
2 is inserted into the first through hole 55, abuts in a state of facing the guide surface 56 and can slide on the guide surface 56,
The sliding surface 73 that supports the second shaft portion 72 so as to be swingable in the XY directions and the engagement cylinder portion 35 of the confocal microscope head 20 can be relatively rotated by vertically penetrating the second shaft portion 72. And a second through hole 75 that is fitted to the. The upper surface 80 of the second correction member 71 is formed in a planar shape, and the upper surface 80 is formed so as to be orthogonal to the fitting center axis line S2 passing through the fitting center of the second through hole 75.

Here, the sliding surface 73 and the guide surface 56 with which it abuts and slides will be described with reference to FIG. Note that FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sliding surface 73 and the guide surface 56 when the first correction member 51 and the second correction member 71 are cross-sectionally viewed on the surface including the fitting center axis line S2 shown in FIG. 2B. Is shown. As shown in FIG. 3, the sliding surface 73 is located on the fitting center axis S1 and at a position above the upper surface of the second correction member 71 by a predetermined distance (hereinafter, referred to as “point O”). Is formed as a part of a spherical surface having a radius of curvature R. Here, if the confocal microscope head 20 shown in FIG. 2B is attached to the second correction member 71, the position of the point O is as shown in FIG.
The fitting shaft portion 52 is located at the same position as the image forming point where the excitation light and the fluorescence are formed on the image forming surface 21 shown in (b).
It is set so as to be located on the fitting center axis line S1 passing through the fitting center. Sliding surface 73 formed in this way
Similarly to the sliding surface 73, the guide surface 56 that is in sliding contact with is also formed as a part of a spherical surface having a radius of curvature substantially the same as the radius of curvature R from the point O. As a result, the second correction member 71 can swing about the point O as the swing center in the X direction (left and right direction in FIG. 3) and the Y direction (vertical direction to the plane of FIG. 3).

Now, the peripheral surface of the second shaft portion 72 extending downward from the sliding surface 73 thus formed is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b) and (b), a notch 77 that is arranged in a right-angle direction in a plan view, has a triangular shape in a cross-sectional view, and has an expanded outer side is formed to extend in the X direction and the Y direction. These notches 77, 77 ... Are arranged opposite to the set screws 64a, 64b, 65a, 65b which are screwed into the first screw hole 59 and the second screw hole 61 of the large diameter portion 53. The second shaft portion 72 between the cutout portions 77, 77 shown in FIG.
Is formed with a screw hole 78 extending toward the fitting central axis S2. This screw hole 78 is in a state in which the engagement cylinder portion 35 of the confocal microscope head 20 is fitted and held in the second through hole 75 of the second correction member 71 shown in FIG. 2B, and the engagement cylinder portion 35. It is formed at a position that is substantially the same as the vertical position of the concave portion 38 formed in. Therefore, the screw hole 78 is shown in FIG.
The confocal microscope head 20 can be fixed to the second correction member 71 by screwing the set screw 79 shown in (a) so that the tip end portion thereof is brought into contact with the recess 38.

Here, the index line 15 shown in FIG. 1 attached to the index plate (not shown) to which the excitation light passing through the optical axis correcting device 50 is irradiated will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the circular line 15c of the index line 15 has a diameter substantially the same as the pupil size of the excitation light passing through the second objective lens 10. Therefore, if the pupil of the excitation light coincides with the circular line 15c, it can be determined that the optical axis of the confocal microscope head 20 and the optical axis of the microscope main body 3 are uniaxial. The graduations 15b attached to the orthogonal lines 15a are arranged at equal intervals outside the position having a predetermined distance from the intersection (center) of the orthogonal lines 15a, 15a.

Next, the optical axis correcting apparatus 50 for correcting the deviation between the optical axis J1 of the microscope main body 3 and the optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20 shown in FIG. 1 using the optical axis correcting apparatus 50 described above. The operation of will be described. The optical axis correction device 5
2, 0 is pre-assembled, the second shaft portion 72 of the second correction member 71 is inserted into the first through hole 55 of the first correction member 51, and the sliding surface 73 is the guide surface. Assume that it is in contact with 56. First, as shown in FIG. 2B, the fitting shaft portion 52 of the first correction member 51 is fitted into the opening 9 a of the lens barrel 9. Subsequently, the set screws 64a, 64b, 65a, 65b screwed into the pair of first screw holes 59 and the pair of second screw holes 61 shown in FIG. And the tips of these setscrews 64a, 64b, 65a, 65b are brought into contact with the corresponding notches 77 of the second correction member 71. As a result, X of the second correction member 71 with respect to the first correction member 51
The swing in the −Y direction is restricted.

Then, the second through hole 7 of the second correction member 71.
5, the engaging cylinder portion 35 of the confocal microscope head 20 is fitted until the lower surface of the step portion 37 contacts the upper surface 80 of the second correction member 71. It should be noted that when the engagement tubular portion 35 is fitted in the second through hole 75, the engagement tubular portion 35 is fitted in the second through hole 75 so as to be rotatable relative to each other. Therefore, the set screw 79 shown in FIG. 2A is moved to the fitting central axis S2 side to fix the engagement tubular portion 35 to the second correction member 71. The movement of the set screw 79 is performed by rotating a driver or the like (not shown) inserted in the through hole 63.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1, a displacement amount detection tool (not shown) is attached to the revolver 5, and the optical axis of the displacement amount detection tool is coaxial with the optical axis J1 of the microscope body 3. Rotate the revolver 5 to the position. Then, excitation light is emitted from a light source (not shown), and the excitation light is slid through the confocal microscope head 20 and the deviation amount detection tool.
Lead to the top. Then, the stage 1 below the deviation amount detection tool
A reflecting mirror or the like (not shown) is installed on 7 and the excitation light passing through the deviation amount detection tool is observed. An example of such an observation is shown in FIG. 1. In this case, the pupil of the excitation light is shifted to the left side in the X-axis direction with respect to the circular line 15c, and the shift amount is the scale 15b attached to the orthogonal line 15a. It is read that it is equivalent to one.

Then, depending on the deviation direction (X direction) read by the deviation amount detecting tool, as shown in FIG. 5A, a pair of second screw holes 61 arranged in the Y direction are formed. The set screws 65a, 65b to be screwed are kept in contact with the notches 77 facing each other, and the set screws 64a to be screwed to the pair of first screw holes 59 arranged in the X direction,
The left set screw 64a of 64b is the fitting center axis S2.
The screw is rotated by the driver 85 so as to move to the side, and is also rotated by the driver 85 so that the right set screw 64b moves in a direction away from the fitting central axis S2.
As a result, the second correction member 71 uses the contact position between the set screws 65a and 65b and the cutouts 77 and 77 shown in FIG. 5A as a fulcrum, as shown in FIG. With the confocal microscope head 20 held by the second correction member 71 as the center of the swing.
It swings to the right in the X-axis direction around the swing center.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20 swings to the right in the X-axis direction around the point O as the swing center, and moves closer to the optical axis J1 side of the microscope body 3. To do. Here, the pupil of the excitation light shown in FIG.
When the driver moves to the right from a position shifted by one scale to the left of c and reaches the position where the pupil of the excitation light overlaps with the circular line 15c, the driver 85 shown in FIG. If the rotation is stopped to stop the movement of the set screw 64a to the right in the X-axis direction and the movement of the set screw 64b to the side away from the fitting center axis S2,
The optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20 and the optical axis J1 of the microscope body 3 shown in FIG. 4 can be uniaxial. As a result, the optical axis adjustment of the confocal microscope head 20 is completed. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, when the optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20 shown in FIG. 1 is tilted with respect to the optical axis J1 of the microscope body 3, the confocal microscope head 2 shown by a two-dot chain line is shown.
The excitation light from 0 is obliquely incident on the second objective lens 10, a part of this excitation light is not incident on the second objective lens 10, and the light passing through the shaded portion is lost to be inspected. 89 is irradiated in an unbalanced state, but by eliminating the deviation of the optical axis J2 of the confocal microscope head 20 with respect to the optical axis J1 of the microscope main body 3, it is possible to irradiate the object 89 to be inspected evenly by the excitation light. You can

Further, since the optical axis of the confocal microscope head 20 is adjusted by moving the setscrews 64a and 64b, a fine optical axis adjustment of the confocal microscope head 20 is possible and the adjusted confocal point is obtained. It is possible to prevent the position of the microscope head 20 from being displaced.

Although the sliding surface 73 and the guide surface 56 are both spherical surfaces in the above-described embodiment, the guide surface 56 may be a surface as shown in FIG. . That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the guide surface 56 is a surface including the fitting central axis line S1 of the first through hole 55, and the first correction member 51.
When the second correction member 71 is viewed in section, the sliding surface 73
The sliding surface 73 is in contact with the guide surface 56,
It may be formed by a surface extending in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the normal line H of the sliding surface 73 at the abutting position P1 that abuts against. By forming the guide surface 56 in this way, the same effect as when the guide surface 56 is formed in a spherical shape can be obtained.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, FIG.
An ordinary optical microscope may be used instead of the fluorescence microscope 1 shown in FIG. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the confocal microscope head 20 is connected to the lens barrel 9 attached to the microscope body 3 via the optical axis correction device 50, but the optical axis correction device 50 is attached to the microscope body 3. The confocal microscope head 20 may be connected via the optical axis correction device 50. Although the optical axis correction device 50 is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the fluorescence microscope 1, the optical axis correction device 50 may be provided as an integral part of the fluorescence microscope 1. Further, a digital camera, a CCD camera, or the like may be used as the optical device unit whose optical axis is corrected.

[0034]

According to the optical axis correcting apparatus of the present invention,
When the sliding surface portion is in contact with the guide surface portion, the first surface is a surface including the fitting center axis line that passes through the fitting center of the unit holding portion.
When the correction member and the second correction member are viewed in cross section, the normal line of the sliding surface portion and the normal line of the guiding surface portion that pass through the contact position where the sliding surface portion and the guide surface portion contact each other, and the fitting center axis line are one point. The second correction member can be swung to the left and right with respect to the first correction member with one point as the swing center. Therefore, by fitting the first fitting shaft portion to the connection portion,
When the optical device unit is attached to the unit holding portion, the first fitting shaft portion is configured so that the central axis lines passing through the center of the first fitting shaft portion intersect at one point, and the optical axis of the optical device unit is If the unit holding section is configured to intersect at one point, the optical axis of the optical apparatus unit and the optical axis of the microscope can be made to be one axis by swinging the optical apparatus unit attached to the unit holding section to the left and right. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a fluorescence microscope equipped with an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 2A is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2B of the optical axis correction device.
It is a sectional view of a portion corresponding to an arrow, and FIG. 11B is a vertical sectional view of the optical axis correction device.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a main part of an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining an operation of correcting the tilt of the optical axis of the confocal microscope head by the optical axis correction device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 5A is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.
It is a sectional view of a portion corresponding to an arrow, and FIG. 11B is a vertical sectional view of the optical axis correction device.

FIG. 6 shows an optical path diagram of excitation light corrected by an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of a main part of an optical axis correction device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 Microscope Main Body (Microscope) 20 Confocal Microscope Head (Optical Device Unit) 50 Optical Axis Correction Device 51 First Correction Member 52 Fitting Shaft Part (First Fitting Shaft Part) 53 Large Diameter Part (First Fitting Shaft Part) ) 55 first through hole 56 guide surface (guide surface portion) 64a, 64b set screw (first fulcrum means) 65a, 65b set screw (second fulcrum means) 71 second correction member 72 second shaft portion 73 sliding surface ( Sliding surface part) 75 Second through hole (unit holding part) J1 Optical axis of microscope body (optical axis of microscope) J2 Optical axis of confocal microscope head (optical axis of optical device unit) S2 Fitting center axis

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An optical axis correction device for connecting an optical device unit and a microscope, and correcting the optical axis of the optical device unit so that the optical axis of the microscope is a single axis. A first fitting shaft part that is fitted to the microscope and is mounted coaxially with the optical axis of the microscope, and a first penetrating hole that vertically penetrates the first fitting shaft part and allows incident or outgoing light to the microscope. A first hole having a hole and a guide surface formed in an upper portion of the first through hole and extending obliquely upward.
A correction member, a second shaft portion that is inserted from an upper portion of the first through hole, and a peripheral edge portion of an upper end portion of the second shaft portion that is formed to project radially outward, and the second shaft portion is the first shaft portion. (1) A sliding surface portion that is slidable on the guide surface portion while being in contact with the guide surface portion in a state of being inserted into the through hole, and supporting the second shaft portion so that the second shaft portion can swing left and right. A unit holder formed on the upper end of the second shaft portion for fitting and holding the optical device unit; and a unit for vertically passing through the second shaft portion and the unit holder to pass the incident or emitted light. A second correction member having two through holes, wherein the sliding surface portion is in contact with the guide surface portion,
Abutting contact between the sliding surface portion and the guide surface portion when the first correction member and the second correction member are cross-sectionally viewed on a surface including a fitting center axis line that passes through the fitting center of the unit holding portion. An optical axis correction device, characterized in that a normal line of the sliding surface portion and a normal line of the guide surface portion passing through a position intersect with the fitting center axis line at one point. 2. The sliding surface portion is formed by a surface having a predetermined radius of curvature, and the guide surface portion is a surface having a radius of curvature substantially the same as the radius of curvature or the sliding at the contact position. The optical axis correction device according to claim 1, wherein the optical axis correction device is formed by a surface extending in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the normal line of the surface portion. 3. The side wall of the first fitting shaft portion extending below the guide surface portion is arranged to face the diameter direction of the first through hole in a plan view in the radial direction of the first through hole. A pair of movable first fulcrum means and a pair of second fulcrum means arranged in a direction perpendicular to the pair of first fulcrum means in a plan view and movable in the radial direction of the first through hole are provided. If the pair of first fulcrum means or the pair of second fulcrum means is brought into contact with the side surface of the side wall of the second fitting shaft portion inserted into the first through hole, Second
The correction member is configured to be swingable left and right around a contact position between the side surface of the second fitting shaft portion and the pair of first fulcrum means or the pair of second fulcrum means. The optical axis correction device according to claim 1 or 2, which is characterized.