JP2004212469A - Illuminator and microscope using same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain uniform emitted light having high light intensity by using a plurality of LED lamps or integrating LED chips and making luminous flux incident on a rod integrator. <P>SOLUTION: The lead frames on which the LED chips are mounted of a plurality of LED lamps 1 are electrically and thermally connected to a heat conductive electrode substrate 2 on which an insulating film 4 provided with a wiring pattern is stuck, and the other lead frame for the respective LED chips is connected to the wiring pattern, and a heat radiating means consisting of a Peltier element 8 is thermally coupled with the back of the substrate 2. The optical axes of a plurality of LED lamps 1 are turned to the incident end of the rod integrator 3, and the luminous flux emitted from the respective LED lamps 1 is made incident on the incident end face of the rod integrator 3, then the luminous flux is superposed inside and emitted from an emitting end face after adding the light intensity of the respective LED lamps. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a lighting device using a plurality of LED lamps or LED chips as a light source used for optical devices such as a microscope, an exposure device, a projector, and a spectroscopic device, and a microscope using the lighting device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the conventional optical device, almost a single light source is used, and when the light intensity is increased, the intensity itself of the light source is increased, that is, a large light source is employed. As means for increasing the light intensity, Patent Literature 1 discloses a rod integrator provided with a partial introduction portion, and Patent Literature 2 discloses a rod integrator having the same number of incident end faces as light sources. All of these are expensive because complicated processing is performed on the incident end face of the rod integrator. Recent technological progress has led to the development of inexpensive and high-brightness LED chips that can be used as LED lamps, and their application fields are expanding.
[0003]
Conventional fluorescent microscopes use a large lamp such as a mercury lamp and use a filter or the like to select only light of the wavelength used for excitation light, and use only a small part of the light emitted from the light source. . Although the above problem can be solved by using an LED, a high-brightness LED has been developed, but the use of a single LED is insufficient in light intensity. However, using a plurality of them causes illumination unevenness. In general, the Koehler illumination method is widely used as a microscope illumination method for both transmission observation and fluorescence observation. The critical illumination method of forming an image of a light source on a sample has not been popularized despite its many advantages, such as high resolution in the depth direction. This is because, when an image is formed on the light source section of the illumination lamp, an image of the filament or arc of the lamp appears in the sample, causing illumination unevenness. In order to solve this problem, there is a method of inserting a scatterer to eliminate the illumination spot. For example, adoption of a frost light bulb or a fluorescent tube is used.
[0004]
As a lighting device using LEDs, Patent Document 3 discloses a rod integrator that uses a plurality of LEDs as a basic unit constituting an LED display and avoids interference with a unit that is next to the unit and makes the light brightness uniform. And that a light pipe was used. As an illumination device for a microscope using an LED, Patent Document 4 discloses a method for directly scattered illumination of a microscope observation sample using a plurality of LEDs and a diffractive optical element or a lens. Further, as a microscope illumination method, Patent Literature 5 describes a method of easily switching between a Koehler illumination method and a critical illumination method of a microscope by detaching and inserting a lens group from an optical system.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-5-72627 [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-75407 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-10-319873 [Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-189174 [Patent Document 5]
JP-A-10-232353
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the shortage of the light quantity is a problem depending on the use of the LED lamp or the LED chip alone, and the heat radiation is also a problem when a plurality of LEDs are mounted at high density. In the conventional microscope illumination method, the scattered light from the scatterer spreads in all directions, and only a part of the scattered light can be used for sample illumination. That is, there was a problem of darkness. Further, since the scatterer is unnecessarily thick, there is a problem that the resolution in the thickness direction is not improved even if the scatterer is regarded as a quasi-planar light source and an image is formed on a sample. In particular, it is expected that the sensitivity and the resolution will increase when the critical illumination method is adopted in fluorescence microscopy, but it is not widely used due to the above-mentioned problems and the price.
An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and uses a plurality of LED lamps or integrates an LED chip, and has a high light intensity and uniformity obtained by making these light beams incident on a rod integrator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting device that uses various emitted lights.
Another object of the present invention is to adopt an LED lamp as a light source, which enables observation with high resolution and sensitivity, and employs a compact illumination device which is uniform, has no light spots, has high light use efficiency, and consumes low power. To provide an improved microscope.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a lighting device according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a heat conductive electrode substrate, and a lead frame mounted on the heat conductive electrode substrate and having an LED chip mounted thereon is electrically connected to the heat conductive electrode substrate. A plurality of LED lamps, which are connected thermally and thermally, and a light beam emitted from the plurality of LED lamps is incident on an incident end face, and the light flux is superimposed inside, a light intensity of each LED lamp is added, and a rod is emitted from an emission end face. And an integrator.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a light beam emitted from a plurality of LED lamps is introduced into the incident end face of the rod integrator, the light beam is multiply reflected inside the rod integrator, and the light beams from the respective LED lamps are superimposed and added and at the same time are made uniform. , And exit from the exit end face. Since the lead frame on which the LED chip of each LED lamp is mounted is electrically and thermally connected to the heat conductive electrode substrate, the heat dissipation of the LED lamp is improved, and a large current can be passed. Longer life is achieved.
[0008]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the optical axis of the LED lamp is directed to the incident end face of the rod integrator.
According to the second aspect, when the directivity of each LED lamp is sharp, sufficient light intensity and uniformity can be achieved simply by arranging the emission direction of the LED lamp toward the incident end face of the rod integrator.
[0009]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the luminous flux of the LED lamp is focused on the incident end face of the rod integrator by a lens or a mirror.
According to the invention of claim 3, it is effective when the directivity is low.
[0010]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an LED chip integrated body in which a plurality of LED chips are directly mounted on a thermally conductive electrode substrate and electrically and thermally connected thereto, and a light condensing means for condensing a light beam from the LED chip integrated body A lens, and a rod integrator that irradiates the light flux condensed by the condenser lens to the incident end face, superimposes the light fluxes of a plurality of LED chips inside, adds light intensity, and emits the light from the exit end face. It is characterized by.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of LED chips, which are inexpensive compared to LED lamps, can be mounted at a high density, so that miniaturization and mass production can be achieved, and the cost of the light source device can be reduced.
[0011]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the rod integrator is formed in a tapered shape such that a cross-sectional area decreases from an incident end to an exit end.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the rod integrator is tapered so that the emission end is narrower than the incidence end, the brightness of the emission light can be increased as compared with the case where no taper is provided. If the emission end is made as thin as the diameter of the optical fiber, it can be easily coupled with the optical fiber. That is, the taper shape of the rod integrator can be selected according to the purpose of use of the light source.
[0012]
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect, the emission end of the rod integrator is point-shaped.
According to the invention of claim 6, the light beams from the plurality of LEDs can be used as a point light source. This point light source can be easily converted to parallel light using a lens.
[0013]
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect, the emission end of the rod integrator is linear.
According to the invention of claim 7, the luminous flux from the plurality of LEDs can be used as a linear light source.
[0014]
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to seventh aspects, the side surface of the rod integrator is mirror-processed.
According to the invention of claim 8, since there is no external influence, the fixing of the rod integrator is easy.
[0015]
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to eighth aspects, a condensing lens is disposed on the incident end face of the rod integrator.
According to the ninth aspect, when the emission angle from the LED lamp or the LED chip is wide, light can be efficiently introduced to the incident end of the rod integrator. Further, since light can be introduced to the incident end of the rod integrator only by arranging a plurality of LED lamps or LED chips in a plane, it is not necessary to adjust the angle of each LED lamp or LED chip toward the incident end.
[0016]
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to ninth aspects, the rod integrator has a core body, and the incident end of the core body is formed as a convex lens.
According to the tenth aspect, since the light receiving angle of the rod integrator can be widened, more LED lamps or LED chips can be arranged.
[0017]
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to eighth aspects, a substrate on which a plurality of LED lamps are arranged is buried at the incident end of the rod integrator.
According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, light can be efficiently introduced into the rod integrator, and can be integrally formed and manufactured at low cost.
[0018]
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the first or the fourth aspect, the heat dissipating means is thermally coupled to the surface of the heat conductive electrode substrate opposite to the surface on which the LED lamp or the LED chip is arranged. Features.
According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, a large current can be supplied to the LED lamp or the LED chip by improving the heat radiation efficiency, and the life can be extended.
[0019]
According to a thirteenth aspect, the lighting device according to any one of the first to twelfth aspects is cascaded.
According to the thirteenth aspect, by connecting the lighting devices in multiple stages, the number of LED lamps or LED chips can be increased to increase the amount of light, thereby coping with insufficient light amount.
[0020]
According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in a microscope for illuminating a sample with light from an illumination device and imaging and observing transmitted light or fluorescence from the sample, the illumination device includes a plurality of LED lamps for supplying illumination light. A light source and a rod integrator that superimposes and adds incident light from a plurality of light-emitting elements to generate a planar light source at the exit end, and images the planar light source generated at the exit end of the rod integrator to sample And an optical system for critical illumination.
According to the fourteenth aspect, it is possible to perform critical illumination without illumination unevenness.
[0021]
The invention according to claim 15 is a microscope that illuminates a sample with light from a lighting device and forms an image of transmitted light or fluorescent light from the sample for observation, wherein the lighting device includes a light source including at least one or more LED lamps. And a thin film scatterer for converting the light emitted from the light source into a planar light source, and an optical system for imaging the planar light source and critically illuminating the sample.
According to the fifteenth aspect, the resolution in the depth direction is somewhat inferior to the method using the rod integrator, but it can be manufactured at low cost. It is also easy to adapt based on widely used conventional microscopes.
[0022]
The invention according to claim 16 is a microscope for illuminating a sample with light from an illuminating device and forming an image of reflected light from the sample for observation, wherein the illuminating device includes a light source including a plurality of LED lamps and a plurality of light emitting elements. A rod integrator that generates a planar light source at the exit end by superimposing and adding the incident light from the light source to make a planar light source, and while maintaining the distance between the light source and the rod integrator, the position of the exit end of the rod integrator is set to the field stop position or aperture. Lighting switching means for switching to Koehler illumination and critical illumination by moving to a stop position.
According to the sixteenth aspect, it is possible to easily switch between observation with a large depth of focus and observation with a small depth of focus during observation.
[0023]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the principle of the lighting device of the present invention. Light beams from the plurality of LED lamps L1 to Ln are condensed on the incident end face of the rod integrator. At this time, the LED lamps L1 to Ln are arranged so that the light beam enters within the light receiving angle of the rod integrator. The light beam incident on the incident end of the rod integrator is multiple-reflected inside the rod integrator, and the light beams from the individual LED lamps are superimposed and added, and at the same time are made uniform. When the directivity of each LED lamp is sharp, it is sufficient to arrange the optical axis of the LED lamp, that is, the emission direction toward the incident end face of the rod integrator. When the directivity is low, the light flux from each LED lamp is condensed on the incident end face of the rod integrator using a lens or a mirror. In the present invention, the number of LED lamps spatially arranged is limited by the limitation of the light receiving angle of the rod integrator. Therefore, when the light quantity is further insufficient, the lighting apparatuses are connected in multiple stages (cascade) as shown in FIG. 2 and the light quantity is increased by increasing the number of LED lamps.
[0024]
An embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an assembled state of the LED lamp 1 on the heat conductive electrode substrate. In this embodiment, a plurality of LED lamps 1 are arranged on a heat conductive electrode substrate 2 made of, for example, a copper plate, and are installed so that the optical axis of the LED lamp 1 faces the incident end face of the rod integrator 3. A lead frame 11 on which one of the cathode electrode and the anode electrode of the LED chip 10 of each LED lamp 1 is mounted is electrically connected to the heat conductive electrode substrate 2. The fixing surface of the LED lamp 1 of the heat conductive electrode substrate 2 is formed as a concave spherical surface, and the insulating film 4 is attached thereto. The lead frame 11 penetrates through the insulating film 4 and is electrically connected to the heat conductive electrode substrate 2. The other lead frame 12 is connected to the wiring pattern 7 provided on the surface of the insulating film 4. In the present embodiment, the bonding is performed by soldering to the copper thermally conductive electrode substrate, but an adhesive that conducts electricity and heat well can be used. Due to this thermal coupling, heat generated from the LED chip 10 can be efficiently released.
[0025]
In order to release heat from the heat conductive electrode substrate 2, the heat conductive electrode substrate is provided with a heat radiating means. One specific example of the heat dissipating means is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a Peltier element 8 is arranged on the back of the heat conductive electrode substrate 2, a radiator 5 is provided on the Peltier element 8, each of them is thermally coupled, and the radiator 5 is further cooled by a cooling fan 6. Have been. In the present embodiment, 16 shell-shaped LED lamps 1 having a sharp directivity with a view angle of ± 6 degrees are used and arranged in a grid pattern. Any number of LED lamps 1 having other shapes and performances can be arbitrarily arranged.
[0026]
FIG. 5 shows a configuration diagram of a modification of the first embodiment. In this embodiment, a plurality of LED lamps 1 are arranged on a flat heat conductive electrode substrate 2 so that the optical axes thereof are parallel to each other. Between the LED lamp 1 and the rod integrator 3, a condensing lens 9 for condensing the light flux of each LED lamp 1 on the incident end of the rod integrator 3 is provided. According to the present embodiment, there is no need to adjust the optical axis of each LED lamp 1 so as to face the incident end of the rod integrator 3. Since the light beam can be guided, it is effective when the directivity of the LED lamp 1 is low.
[0027]
The rod integrator 3 is an optical propagator in which a light beam introduced from the incident end repeats multiple reflections and propagates to the exit end. In the rod integrator 3 shown in FIG. 6, a clad 30 formed of an optical material having a low refractive index like the optical fiber surrounds a core body 31 formed of an optical material having a high refractive index. The rod integrator 3 shown in FIG. 7 has a core 31 made of a glass rod or a plastic rod that can have a function of a clad in the surrounding air and totally reflect the surface. The rod integrator 3 shown in FIG. 8 is a mirror rod formed by coating a metal such as aluminum on the surface of glass or plastic to form a mirror 32. The rod integrator 3 shown in FIG. 9 is a typical example of a structure in which the rod integrator is formed in a tapered shape such that the cross-sectional area decreases from the input end 3A to the output end 3B. The tapered rod integrator acts to reduce the light flux and increase the light intensity. The tapered shape allows the emission end to be optically coupled to an optical fiber to produce a fiber light source. As an application example of the tapered rod integrator, a point light source shown in FIG. 10 or a linear light source shown in FIG. 11 can be produced. A point light source can easily obtain parallel light by adding a lens. In addition, the tapered shape can be applied to the structure of only the core in FIG. 7 or the structure in which the core surface is mirrored in FIG. Further, the shape of the rod integrator can be not only a cylinder or a prism but also a curved shape other than a straight shape.
[0028]
The configuration of the incident end of the rod integrator 3 will be described. At the incident end of the core body 31 of the rod integrator 3, a condensing lens 33 for increasing the light receiving angle is arranged in contact with the incident end face as shown in FIG. 12, or is formed on a convex lens 34 shown in FIG. ing. FIG. 14 shows a structure in which the core material of the core body 31 of the rod integrator 3 and the LED lamp 1 are integrated by molding.
The configuration of the incident end and the exit end of the rod integrator 3 can be selectively applied to the above-described embodiments such as a structure with and without the clad 30 and the mirror 32.
[0029]
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 15 is a perspective view of an LED chip assembly constituting a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is a partial sectional view of the LED chip assembly. In the LED chip integrated body, a plurality of LED chips 9 are directly mounted on the heat conductive electrode substrate 2 by bonding and are electrically and thermally connected. An insulating film 4 on which a wiring pattern 7 is provided is stuck on the surface of the heat conductive electrode substrate 2. The other electrode of each LED chip 9 is connected to the wiring pattern 7 via a chip resistor 14 by a bonding wire 13. Although not shown in the figure, the whole or at least the LED chip 9 and the bonding wires 13 are covered with a transparent resin for protection.
[0030]
The LED chip assembly can be used in place of the LED lamp described above. In addition, many LED chip integrated bodies are not only excellent in heat dissipation efficiency but also suitable for mass production because the LED chip 7 is thermally coupled directly to the thermally conductive electrode substrate 2 without through a lead frame.
[0031]
An embodiment of a microscope employing the illumination device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a microscope. The microscope illuminates the sample surface through the objective lens 42 by converting the light from the illumination device 50 into parallel light with the field lens 40 and reflecting the light on the dichroic mirror 41. The transmitted light or fluorescent light from the sample surface passes through the objective lens 42 and the dichroic mirror 41 and is imaged on the image plane by the imaging lens 43 for observation.
[0032]
The illumination device 50 is arranged such that the exit end of the rod integrator 3 matches the field stop position of the microscope. Thereby, a uniform planar light source having no luminance unevenness generated at the exit end of the rod integrator 3 is imaged on the observation surface of the sample, and critical illumination is realized. This enables critical illumination without illumination unevenness, and enables observation in a state where the depth of focus is smaller than that of Koehler illumination. This is because the depth of focus of observation is proportional to the product of the depth of focus of illumination and the depth of focus of imaging.
[0033]
The present invention is applicable to both transmitted light illumination and epi-illumination such as fluorescence observation. Since the depth of focus is shallow, an optical slice image can be obtained. It is also possible to acquire a plurality of optical slice images while shifting the observation plane in the depth direction, and reconstruct a three-dimensional stereoscopic image from these optical slice images by an image processing technique. Also, since the refractive angle of the material can be adjusted for the exit angle of the rod integrator, it can be transmitted to the field lens disposed in front of the rod integrator without loss of light energy.
[0034]
Illumination switching means for moving the illumination device 50 to the field stop position and the aperture stop position in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure is provided. The illumination switching unit switches the Koehler illumination and the critical illumination by moving the position of the exit end of the rod integrator 3 to the field stop position or the aperture stop position while maintaining the distance between the light source 1 and the rod integrator 3. By making the exit end of the rod integrator coincide with the aperture stop position, Koehler illumination is achieved.
[0035]
It is desirable to image a flat light source with no thickness generated at the exit end of the rod integrator on the sample observation surface, but in order to produce it at low cost, it is easy to arrange the thin film scatterer at the aperture stop position. Critical lighting can be realized. The thin film scatterer has a smaller scattering layer thickness than conventional frosted glass or opal glass, and can also limit the scattering angle. There is a thin film scatterer using the surface relief hologram technology that can be used for this purpose, for example, a trade name “Light Shaping Diffuser” manufactured by Physical Optics Corporation (CA. USA).
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
According to the illuminating device of the present invention, the luminous flux from the plurality of LED lamps is superimposed by the rod integrator and can be used as an illuminating device in which the light intensities are added. The illumination device becomes a uniform light source without illumination unevenness. In addition, by thermally coupling the lead frame on which the LED chip is mounted or the LED chip itself to the heat conductive electrode substrate, the heat radiation effect is improved and a large current can flow through the LED, so that the light intensity increases. At the same time, deterioration due to heat generation is suppressed, and the life can be extended.
According to the microscope of the present invention, when a rod integrator is used, critical illumination without illumination unevenness is possible, and when a thin film scatterer is used instead of the rod integrator, it can be manufactured at low cost. In addition, it is easy to adapt based on a widely used conventional microscope, and it is possible to easily switch between observation with a large depth of focus and observation with a small depth of focus during observation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the principle of a lighting device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an application example in which the lighting devices of the present invention are cascaded.
FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an assembled state of the LED lamp on a heat conductive electrode substrate.
FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a modification of the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a rod integrator.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a modification of the rod integrator.
FIG. 8 is a view showing another modification of the rod integrator.
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another modification of the rod integrator.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a point light source using a tapered rod integrator.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a linear light source using a tapered rod integrator.
FIG. 12 is a view showing an embodiment of a rod integrator light receiving angle enlarging means.
FIG. 13 is a view showing a modification of the rod integrator light reception angle enlarging means.
FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a structure in which an LED is integrated with the incident end of a rod integrator by molding.
FIG. 15 is a perspective view of an LED chip integrated body.
FIG. 16 is a partial cross-sectional view of the LED chip assembly.
FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a microscope employing the illumination device of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... LED lamp, 2 ... heat conductive electrode board, 3 ... rod integrator, 4 ... insulating film, 5 ... radiator, 7 ... wiring pattern, 10 ... LED chip, 11, 12 ... lead frame, 30 ... clad body, 31: core body, 32: mirror, 50: lighting device.

Claims (16)

A thermally conductive electrode substrate;
A plurality of LED lamps arranged on the heat conductive electrode substrate, and a lead frame mounted with an LED chip is electrically and thermally connected to the heat conductive electrode substrate,
A rod integrator that emits a light beam emitted from the plurality of LED lamps to an incident end face, adds the light flux of the LED lamps inside, adds the light intensity of each of the LED lamps, and emits the light from the emission end face;
A lighting device comprising: 2. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein an optical axis of the LED lamp is directed to an incident end face of the rod integrator. 2. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the light flux of the LED lamp is condensed on the incident end face of the rod integrator by a lens or a mirror. A plurality of LED chips mounted directly on the thermally conductive electrode substrate and electrically and thermally connected with an LED chip integrated body;
A condenser lens for condensing a light beam from the LED chip assembly;
A rod integrator that makes the light beam condensed by the condenser lens incident on the incident end face, adds light intensity of a plurality of LED chips inside, adds light intensity, and emits light from the exit end face,
A lighting device comprising: The lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the rod integrator is formed in a tapered shape such that a cross-sectional area decreases from an incident end to an exit end. The lighting device according to claim 5, wherein the emission end of the rod integrator is point-shaped. 6. The lighting device according to claim 5, wherein the emission end of the rod integrator is linear. The lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the rod integrator is mirror-processed. 9. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a condensing lens is disposed on an incident end face of the rod integrator. The lighting device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the rod integrator has a core body, and an incident end of the core body is formed as a convex lens. 9. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein the rod integrator has a core body, and a substrate on which a plurality of LED lamps are arranged is embedded at an incident end of the core body. 5. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a radiator is thermally coupled to a surface of the heat conductive electrode substrate opposite to a surface on which the LED lamp or the LED chip is arranged. 6. An illumination device comprising the illumination device according to claim 1 cascaded. In a microscope that illuminates a sample with light from an illumination device and forms an image of transmitted light or fluorescence from the sample and observes the image,
A light source comprising a plurality of LED lamps for supplying illumination light, a rod integrator for superimposing and uniformizing incident light from the plurality of light emitting elements to generate a planar light source at an emission end; An optical system configured to form an image of a planar light source generated at an exit end of an integrator and critically illuminate a sample. In a microscope that illuminates a sample with light from an illumination device and forms an image of transmitted light or fluorescence from the sample and observes the image,
The illumination device is a light source composed of at least one or more LED lamps, a thin film scatterer that converts the light emitted from the light source into a planar light source, and an optical system that forms an image of the planar light source and critically illuminates the sample. A microscope comprising: In a microscope that illuminates a sample with light from an illumination device and forms an image of reflected light from the sample for observation,
A light source including a plurality of LED lamps, a rod integrator that superimposes and adds incident light from the plurality of light emitting elements to generate a planar light source at an emission end, and a distance between the light source and the rod integrator. A microscope that comprises: an illumination switching unit configured to move the position of the exit end of the rod integrator to a field stop position or an aperture stop position and switch between Koehler illumination and critical illumination while holding the rod.

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