JP2006195125A - Immersion objective of microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an immersion objective of a microscope being a lens system which has a large numerical aperture and a large magnification and whose aberration is satisfactorily corrected, and made excellent in observation of feeble light. <P>SOLUTION: The immersion objective comprises a 1st lens group comprising a doublet obtained by bonding a plane-convex lens and a meniscus lens turning its concave surface to an object side and a meniscus lens, a 2nd lens group including a plurality of doublets and having positive refractive power, a 3rd lens group including a plurality of bonded meniscus lenses turning their concave surfaces to an image side and having positive refractive power, and a 4th lens group having a plurality of meniscus lenses turning their concave surfaces to the object side in order from the object side, and is set to satisfy following conditions (1) to (3). That is, (1) 5<f<SB>3</SB>/f<100, (2) n<SB>d</SB>(n)-n<SB>d</SB>(p)<0.2 and (3) ν(p)-ν(n)>35. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

    The present invention relates to an immersion microscope objective lens having a large numerical aperture and a high magnification, and excellent in observing weak light in the observation of a fine specimen.

    In recent years, applications for observing faint light are increasing in order to observe extremely fine specimens such as single molecules in the field of biological research. Therefore, a microscope capable of high resolution and brighter observation is required. Therefore, a microscope equipped with an objective lens having a large numerical aperture and a high observation magnification is required.

    In particular, in fluorescence observation, evanescent illumination that uses evanescent light that impinges on the specimen with excitation light with different epi-illumination at the angle of total reflection, and this excitation light oozes out from the boundary of the medium to the opposite side only by the region of the wavelength of the light. Is used.

    When this evanescent illumination is performed with a microscope, since the refractive index of the cell is about 1.38, the numerical aperture of the objective lens needs to be at least 1.4 or more. Furthermore, by changing the incident angle of the illumination light, it is possible to control the area where the evanescent light leaks out, and in order to do so, a larger numerical aperture exceeding 1.4 is required.

As a conventional example of such a microscope objective lens having a large numerical aperture, those described in the following patent documents are known.
The objective lens of this conventional example has a magnification of 100 × and a numerical aperture of 1.45 when immersed. However, the objective lens of this conventional example has a lens configuration with a small cemented surface, and the difference in Abbe number between the lenses before and after the cemented surface is 30 or less. For this reason, it is difficult to correct the chromatic aberration in the conventional objective lens, and it cannot be said that the chromatic aberration is sufficiently corrected.

    The present invention provides an immersion microscope objective lens that has a large numerical aperture and a large magnification, that various aberrations are well corrected, and that is excellent in observing faint light with a fine specimen.

    An immersion microscope objective lens according to the present invention includes, in order from the object side, a first lens group including a cemented lens obtained by cementing a plano-convex lens and a meniscus lens having a concave surface facing the object side, and a plurality of cemented lenses. A fourth lens group including a second lens group including positive refractive power, a third lens group including positive cemented meniscus lenses having concave surfaces facing the image side, and a plurality of meniscus lenses having concave surfaces facing the object side. And the third lens group satisfies the following conditions (1), (2), and (3).

(1) 5 <f ₃ / f <100
(2) n _d (n) −n _d (p) <0.2
(3) ν (p) −ν (n)> 35
Here, f is the focal length of the entire system, f ₃ is the focal length of the third lens group, and n _d (n) and n _d (p) are negative lenses and positive lenses of a plurality of cemented lenses in the third lens group, respectively. Are the Abbe numbers of the positive lens and negative lens of the plurality of cemented lenses in the third lens group.

    In the immersion microscope objective lens according to the present invention, the first lens unit is provided with a plano-convex lens and a meniscus cemented lens having a concave surface facing the object side, so that the first lens unit has a concave cemented surface on the object side. It was configured to have. As a result, the objective lens of the present invention can be made closer to an aplanatic condition, and the occurrence of spherical aberration and coma can be suppressed.

    In the objective lens of the present invention, the second lens group includes a plurality of cemented lenses and has a positive refractive power.

    In fluorescence observation, it is necessary to observe fluorescent images of various wavelengths. Therefore, the microscope objective lens needs to have chromatic aberration sufficiently corrected. In addition, since the high magnification objective lens has a short focal length, it is difficult to correct chromatic aberration.

    In the microscope objective lens of the present invention, the second lens group is configured as described above so that chromatic aberration can be easily corrected. Chromatic aberration can be corrected even at high magnification.

    In the present invention, the third lens group includes a plurality of cemented lenses having a concave surface facing the image side, and has a positive refractive power as a whole.

    A high-magnification objective lens has a small exit pupil even with a large numerical aperture.

    In the objective lens of the present invention, the third lens group has a positive refractive power so that a light beam having a high light beam height due to a high numerical aperture can be guided to a small exit pupil.

    If the third lens group does not have a positive refractive power, the refractive power of the front group (first lens group, second lens group) becomes too strong, and higher-order aberrations are generated. In addition, since the third lens group has a plurality of meniscus lens components, it is possible to minimize the aberration generated in the third lens group. In addition, correction of chromatic aberration is facilitated by using a meniscus lens component as a cemented lens.

    This third lens group satisfies the above conditions (1), (2), and (3).

    In these conditions (1), (2), and (3), the condition (1) defines the ratio between the focal length of the third lens group and the focal length of the entire microscope objective lens system, and is high at a high magnification. This is a condition for obtaining the numerical aperture.

In this condition (1), if the value of f ₃ / f is smaller than the lower limit of 5, it becomes difficult to correct chromatic aberration well. When f ₃ / f is larger than the upper limit of 100, the refractive power of the front group becomes too strong, and higher-order aberrations generated in the front group become too large. This makes it difficult to obtain a high numerical aperture.

    Condition (2) is a condition for defining the difference in refractive index between the positive lens and the negative lens constituting each cemented lens in the plurality of cemented lenses in the third lens group. This is a condition for obtaining a positive refractive power.

    Outside the range of the condition (2), it is difficult to make the third lens group have a positive refractive power.

    Furthermore, the condition (3) is a condition for defining the difference between the Abbe number of the positive lens and the negative lens of the meniscus cemented lens in the third lens group, and is a condition for correcting the chromatic aberration sufficiently satisfactorily. .

    If it is outside the range defined by this condition (3), it will be difficult to correct chromatic aberration well.

    Furthermore, in the present invention, the fourth lens group includes a meniscus lens having a concave surface facing the object side. This facilitates correction of Petzval sum and magnification chromatic aberration to ensure flatness of the image surface.

    In the microscope objective lens of the present invention described above, it is more desirable to satisfy the following condition (4).

(4) 0.7 <R ₁ / R ₂ <2
Here, R ₁ and R ₂ are the radii of curvature of the object side surface and the image side surface of the meniscus lens with the concave surface facing the object side of the first lens unit, respectively.

This condition (4) defines the ratio between the radius of curvature R ₁ of the cemented surface of the cemented lens of the first lens group and the image side surface (air contact surface) R ₂ , while suppressing the occurrence of aberrations. This is a condition for obtaining an objective lens having a high magnification and a high numerical aperture.

In this condition (4), when R ₁ / R ₂ is smaller than the lower limit of 0.7, the focal length of the cemented lens becomes large, and it becomes difficult to capture a light beam having a large numerical aperture. In addition, it is difficult to reduce the focal length of the entire lens while suppressing the occurrence of aberrations. On the other hand, when the value is larger than the upper limit of 2, the radius of curvature of the air contact surface on the image side of the cemented lens becomes small, and higher-order aberrations occur.

    In the microscope objective lens of the present invention, it is preferable that the second lens group includes a cemented lens having a weak negative refractive power that can move on the optical axis, and the cemented lens satisfies the following condition (5).

(5) | f (G ₂ A) / f |> 100
Here, f (G ₂ A) is a focal length of the movable cemented lens in the second lens group.

    In the objective lens of the present invention, a cemented lens having a negative refractive power is provided in the second lens group, and the cemented lens is moved along the optical axis, so that spherical aberration due to a change in the thickness of the cover glass or other It is possible to minimize the deterioration of aberration performance. In this case, the condition (5) defines the focal length of the moving lens component. If the condition (5) is not satisfied, aberrations occur due to the movement of the cemented lens having the negative refractive power, and a good image cannot be obtained.

    According to the present invention, it is possible to realize an excellent immersion microscope objective lens having a large numerical aperture and a high magnification and observing weak light in the observation of a fine specimen.

    Embodiments of the microscope objective lens of the present invention will be described based on each example.

    Example 1 of the microscope objective lens of the present invention is a lens system having the following data with the configuration shown in FIG.

That is, in order from the object side, a plano-convex lens and (r ₁ ~r _2), a cemented lens including a meniscus lens having a concave surface facing the object side _{(r 2 ~r 3) (r} 1 ~r 3) a meniscus lens ( a first lens group G1 composed of r _{4 to} r ₅ ), a second lens group G2 composed of two cemented lenses, that is, a three-lens cemented lens (r _{6 to} r ₉ ) and a cemented lens (r _{10 to} r ₁₂ ). A meniscus cemented lens having concave surfaces facing the two image sides, that is, a third lens group G3 composed of a cemented lens (r _{13 to} r ₁₅ ) and a cemented lens (r _{16 to} r ₁₈ ), and a concave surface facing the object side The lens system includes a fourth lens group G4 including meniscus cemented lenses (r _{19 to} r ₂₁ ), and has the following data.

β = −100 ×, NA = 1.41, f = 1.8 mm, WD = 0.13 mm
Cover glass thickness = 0.17
r ₁ = ∞ d ₁ = 0.6 n ₁ = 1.51633 ν ₁ = 64.14
r ₂ = -2.3056 d ₂ = 1.69 n ₂ = 1.77250 ν ₂ = 49.60
r ₃ = -1.8319 d ₃ = 0.4937
r ₄ = -14.3487 d ₄ = 3.88685 n ₃ = 1.49700 ν ₃ = 81.14
r ₅ = -5.1719 d ₅ = 0.9342
r ₆ = 9.0854 d ₆ = 5.2135 n ₄ = 1.43875 ν ₄ = 94.93
r ₇ = -10.1831 d ₇ = 1.2562 n ₅ = 1.75500 ν ₅ = 52.32
r ₈ = 12.185 d ₈ = 4.6807 n ₆ = 1.43875 ν ₆ = 94.93
r ₉ = -9.4127 d ₉ = 0.7
r ₁₀ = 29.7704 d ₁₀ = 4.2461 n ₇ = 1.43875 ν ₇ = 94.93
r ₁₁ = -7.3237 d ₁₁ = 1.0025 n ₈ = 1.75500 ν ₈ = 52.32
r ₁₂ = -25.5869 d ₁₂ = 0.43
r ₁₃ = 8.2025 d ₁₃ = 7.121 n ₉ = 1.49700 ν ₉ = 81.14
r ₁₄ = -9.4148 d ₁₄ = 1.3244 n ₁₀ = 1.63775 ν ₁₀ = 42.41
r ₁₅ = 45.7638 d ₁₅ = 1.1811
r ₁₆ = 5.881 d ₁₆ = 5.0271 n ₁₁ = 1.49700 ν ₁₁ = 81.14
r ₁₇ = −6.5137 d ₁₇ = 1 n ₁₂ = 1.63775 ν ₁₂ = 42.41
r ₁₈ = 2.6129 d ₁₈ = 1.4279
r ₁₉ = -1.9011 d ₁₉ = 4.3439 n ₁₃ = 1.51633 ν ₁₃ = 64.14
r ₂₀ = 19.1455 d ₂₀ = 2.5037 n ₁₄ = 1.67300 ν ₁₄ = 38.15
r ₂₁ = -6.6332

_{R 1 / R 2 = r 2} / r 3 = 1.259
f ₃ /f=23.027
n _d (n) −n _d (p) = n ₁₀ −n ₉ = 0.15875
ν (p) −ν (n) = ν ₉ −ν ₁₀ = 38.73

However _{r 1, r 2, ··· r} 21 is the radius of curvature of each lens _{surface, d 1, d 2, ···} d 20 is the thickness and air space of the lens, n _1, n _2, ··· n ₁₄ is the refractive index of each lens at the d-line, and ν ₁ , ν ₂ ,... ν ₁₄ is the Abbe number of each lens with respect to the d-line. Β is a magnification, NA is a function, f is a focal length of the objective lens, and WD is a working distance. The unit of length of r, d, etc. is mm.

    The values of the conditions (1) to (5) in the objective lens of Example 1 are as shown in the data, and Example 1 satisfies all the conditions.

    Example 2 of the present invention is an objective lens having the same configuration as that of Example 1 shown in FIG.

The data of the lens system of Example 2 is as follows.

β = −149.25 ×, NA = 1.45, f = 1.21 mm,
WD = 0.13 mm, cover glass thickness = 0.13 to 0.21
r ₁ = ∞ d ₁ = 0.6 n ₁ = 1.51633 ν ₁ = 64.14
r ₂ = -1.609 d ₂ = 1.69 n ₂ = 1.77250 ν ₂ = 49.60
r ₃ = -1.762 d ₃ = 0.4532
r ₄ = -31.9155 d ₄ = 3.5392 n ₃ = 1.49700 ν ₃ = 81.14
r ₅ = -5.192 d ₅ = 0.6799
r ₆ = 7.6764 d ₆ = 4.6167 n ₄ = 1.43875 ν ₄ = 94.93
r ₇ = -13.1802 d ₇ = 1.4689 n ₅ = 1.75500 ν ₅ = 52.32
r ₈ = 7.7262 d ₈ = 4.6473 n ₆ = 1.43875 ν ₆ = 94.93
r ₉ = -10.309 d ₉ = D1
r ₁₀ = 22.6623 d ₁₀ = 3.9663 n ₇ = 1.43875 ν ₇ = 94.93
r ₁₁ = −6.2339 d ₁₁ = 1.4979 n ₈ = 1.75500 ν ₈ = 52.32
r ₁₂ = -24.3361 d ₁₂ = D2
r ₁₃ = 7.2943 d ₁₃ = 5.1007 n ₉ = 1.49700 ν ₉ = 81.14
r ₁₄ = -9.591 d ₁₄ = 1.4051 n ₁₀ = 1.63775 ν ₁₀ = 42.41
r ₁₅ = 26.999 d ₁₅ = 1.0221
r ₁₆ = 4.323 d ₁₆ = 4.9786 n ₁₁ = 1.49700 ν ₁₁ = 81.14
r ₁₇ = −4.6361 d ₁₇ = 1 n ₁₂ = 1.63775 ν ₁₂ = 42.41
r ₁₈ = 1.8523 d ₁₈ = 2.8153
r ₁₉ = -1.485 d ₁₉ = 3.696 n ₁₃ = 1.51633 ν ₁₃ = 64.14
r ₂₀ = 7.7916 d ₂₀ = 2.616 n ₁₄ = 1.67300 ν ₁₄ = 38.15
r ₂₁ = -6.193

Cover glass thickness 0.13mm 0.15mm 0.21mm
D1 (variable) 0.585515 0.7 0.81577
D2 (variable) 0.54485 0.43 0.31423
_{R 1 / R 2 = r 2} / r 3 = 0.913
f ₃ /f=22.232
n _d (n) −n _d (p) = n ₁₀ −n ₉ = 0.15875
ν (p) −ν (n) = ν ₉ −ν ₁₀ = 38.73
f (G ₂ A) / f = 4390

The objective lens of Example 2 also satisfies the conditions (1) to (5).

In Example 2, the cemented lens G3A ((r _{10 to} r ₁₂ ) in the third lens group G3 is moved to correct the deterioration of aberration due to the change in the cover glass thickness. The cemented lens G3A is moved and corrected by changing the distances d ₉ and d ₁₂ between the front and rear lenses, where the cemented lens is moved to correct the aberration corresponding to the thickness of the cover talus. The values of d ₉ (= D1) and d ₁₂ (= D2) at this time are as shown in the data.

The microscope objective lens of the present invention is an immersion microscope objective lens. The objective lens of the above embodiment has a refractive index of 1.1548 between the object surface and the first surface (r ₁ ) of the objective lens, and an Abbe number of 43. 1 is used, and a cover glass having a refractive index of 1.521 and an Abbe number of 56.02 is used.

In addition, all of these examples are infinity corrected objective lenses in which the emission destination from the objective lens is a parallel light beam, and no image is formed by itself. Therefore, for example, in the configuration shown in FIG.
F = 180
R ₁ = 68.7541 D ₁ = 7.7321 N ₁ = 1.48749 V ₁ = 70.20
R ₂ = -37.5679 D ₂ = 3.4742 N ₂ = 1.80610 V ₂ = 40.95
R ₃ = -102.8477 D ₃ = 0.6973
R ₄ = 84.3099 D ₄ = 6.0238 N ₃ = 1.83400 V ₃ = 37.16
_{R 5 = -50.7100 D 5 = 3.0298} N 4 = 1.64450 V 4 = 40.82
R ₆ = 40.6619
_{Wherein, R 1, R 2, ···} R 6 is the radius of curvature of each lens surface of the imaging _{lens, D 1, D 2, ···} D 5 is the thickness and air space of the lens of the imaging lens , N ₁ , N ₂ , N ₃ , and N ₄ are the refractive indexes of the lenses of the imaging lens, V ₁ , V ₂ , V ₃ , and V ₄ are Abbe numbers of the lenses of the imaging lens, and F is the imaging lens Is the focal length.

    The aberration situation when the imaging lens is combined with Example 1 is as shown in FIG.

    In addition, aberrations when the imaging lens is combined with Example 2 are as shown in FIGS. Of these figures, FIG. 4 shows a case where the cover glass thickness is 0.13 mm, FIG. 5 shows a case where the cover glass thickness is 0.17 mm, and FIG. 6 shows a case where the cover glass thickness is 0.21 mm. Aberration diagram, IH is image height.

    As is apparent from these aberration situations, in each embodiment of the present invention, various aberrations are well corrected.

    The immersion microscope objective lens of the present invention has a large numerical aperture and a high magnification, can be used as an objective lens of a microscope that performs evanescent illumination, and can finely observe a fine specimen.

The figure which shows the structure of the objective lens of Example 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the structure of the objective lens of Example 2 of this invention. Aberration curve diagram of Example 1 of the present invention The aberration curve figure in case the thickness of the cover glass of Example 2 of this invention is 0.13 mm The aberration curve figure in case the thickness of the cover glass of Example 2 of this invention is 0.17 mm Aberration curve diagram when the thickness of the cover glass of Example 2 of the present invention is 0.21 mm. The figure which shows the structure of one example of the imaging lens used in combination with the objective lens of this invention

Explanation of symbols

G1 First lens group G2 Second lens group G3 Third lens group G4 Fourth lens group G2A Moving lens

Claims (3)

In order from the object side, a plano-convex lens, a cemented lens of a meniscus lens having a concave surface directed toward the object side, a first lens group including the meniscus lens, a second lens group including a plurality of cemented lenses and having a positive refractive power, and an image A third lens group including a plurality of cemented meniscus lenses having a concave surface facing the side and having a positive refractive power, and a fourth lens group including one or more meniscus lenses having a concave surface facing the object side. 1. A microscope objective lens characterized by satisfying 1), (2), and (3).
(1) 5 <f ₃ / f <100
(2) n _d (n) −n _d (p) <0.2
(3) ν (p) −ν (n)> 35
Here, f ₃ is the focal length of the third lens group, f is the focal length of the entire objective lens system, and n _d (n) and n _d (p) each constitute a plurality of cemented lenses in the third lens group. Refractive indexes at the d-line of the negative lens and the positive lens, ν (p), ν (n) are Abbe numbers of the positive lens and the negative lens constituting each of the plurality of cemented lenses in the third lens group. The microscope objective lens according to claim 1, which satisfies the following condition (4).
(4) 0.7 <R ₁ / R ₂ <2
Here, R ₁ and R ₂ are the radii of curvature of the object side surface and the image side surface of the meniscus cemented lens with the concave surface facing the object side of the first lens unit, respectively. 2. The microscope objective lens according to claim 1, wherein the second lens group includes a cemented lens having a weak negative refractive power that is movable on the optical axis, and satisfies the following condition (5).
(5) | f (G ₂ A) / f |> 100
Here, f (G ₂ A) is a focal length of the movable cemented lens in the second lens group.

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