JP2012220526A - Inverted microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size and weight of a microscope body while guiding the image of a specimen to a position easy to view.SOLUTION: An inverted microscope 1 includes a reflection member 15 for reflecting at least part of an infinite luminous flux condensed by an objective optical system 3, an imaging optical system 16 for condensing the infinite luminous flux reflected by the reflection member 15 to form an image of a subject A, and an eyepiece optical system 20 for enlarging the image of the subject A formed by the imaging optical system 16.

Description

  The present invention relates to an inverted microscope.

  Conventionally, an imaging lens for forming an image of the objective lens on the imaging surface of the imaging element is arranged on the optical path of the infinity light beam focused by the objective lens toward the vertically downward direction, and collected by the imaging lens. An inverted microscope is known in which a part of the emitted light beam is branched and an image of the specimen is relayed by a U-shaped or V-shaped optical path to lead to an eyepiece arranged at a position where it can be easily viewed. For example, see Patent Document 1.)

JP 2010-91809 A

  However, the inverted microscope of Patent Document 1 has a disadvantage that the apparatus main body is enlarged because the light beam condensed vertically downward by the imaging lens is passed through the microscope main body by a U-shaped or V-shaped optical path.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an inverted microscope that can guide an image of a specimen to a position where it can be easily viewed while reducing the size and weight of the microscope main body.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The present invention provides an objective optical system that condenses light from a subject, a reflecting member that reflects at least a part of an infinite light beam collected by the objective optical system, and the infinity reflected by the reflecting member. An inverted microscope is provided that includes an imaging optical system that focuses a light beam to form an image of the subject, and an eyepiece optical system that enlarges the image of the subject that is imaged by the imaging optical system.

  According to the present invention, the light from the subject condensed by the objective optical system becomes an infinite luminous flux, is guided vertically downward, is reflected by the reflecting member, and is then collected by the imaging optical system, and is thus supplied with eyepiece optics. Guided to the system. The observer can enlarge and observe the subject image via the eyepiece optical system. In this case, according to the present invention, the infinity light beam collected by the objective optical system is reflected by the reflecting member before passing through the imaging optical system and directed to the eyepiece optical system. Compared with the conventional inverted microscope that is reflected after passing through the lens, the optical path length to the eyepiece optical system can be shortened, and the size and weight can be reduced.

  In the above invention, a photographic imaging optical system for focusing the infinity light beam collected by the objective optical system to form an image of the subject, and an image formed by the photographic imaging optical system An imaging element that captures an image of the subject may be provided, and the reflection member may be provided so as to be inserted into and removed from an optical path between the objective optical system and the imaging imaging optical system.

  In this way, by inserting the reflecting member on the optical path, the infinite light beam collected by the objective optical system is reflected by the reflecting member and then condensed by the imaging optical system to the eyepiece optical system. Oriented. On the other hand, when the reflecting member is removed from the optical path, the infinity light beam collected by the objective optical system is collected by the imaging optical system for imaging, thereby forming an image of the subject on the imaging surface of the imaging device. Can be made.

  In the above invention, the reflecting member is provided so as to be able to pass without reflecting at least a part of the infinite light beam from the objective optical system, and condenses the infinite light beam transmitted through the reflecting member. A photographing imaging optical system that forms an image of the subject, and an imaging element that photographs the subject image formed by the photographing imaging optical system.

  In this way, the part reflected by the reflecting member of the infinite light beam from the objective optical system is condensed by the imaging optical system and guided to the eyepiece optical system, and the part transmitted through the reflecting member is photographed. The light is condensed by the image forming optical system and imaged on the image pickup surface of the image pickup device. Thereby, the same image as the image of the subject acquired by the image sensor can be simultaneously observed in the eyepiece optical system.

Moreover, in the said invention, the said reflection member may be provided in the optical path between the said objective optical system and the said imaging optical system for imaging so that attachment or detachment is possible.
In this way, when the reflecting member is inserted into the optical path, the same image as the subject image acquired by the image sensor can be observed simultaneously in the eyepiece optical system, and when the reflecting member is removed from the optical path, the eyepiece optical An image of the subject can be acquired by the image sensor without performing observation by the system. In this case, since the reflection member is inserted into and removed from the optical path of the light beam at infinity, the optical path length does not change by insertion and removal, and it is not necessary to correct the optical path length. That is, when the reflecting member is detached from the optical path, it is not necessary to perform a treatment such as inserting a dummy glass into the optical path instead.

Moreover, in the said invention, it is preferable that the said reflection member is provided with two reflective surfaces which reflect the said infinity light beam twice, and angle (theta) which this reflective surface makes satisfies the following conditional expressions.
20 ° <θ <40 °

  When θ is smaller than 20 °, when the reflecting member is composed of a prism, total reflection does not occur on the subsequent reflecting surface. Further, in the case where the reflecting member is constituted by a mirror, the mirror constituting the subsequent reflecting surface blocks the light beam unless the interval between the mirrors is widened. In order to avoid this, the space where the mirror is arranged becomes large.

  If θ is greater than 40 °, the light beam is incident on the subsequent reflecting surface at a shallow angle. For this reason, when the reflecting member is composed of a prism, the prism becomes long and large, which is expensive. When the reflecting member is composed of a mirror, the mirror constituting the subsequent reflecting surface becomes long. Therefore, in order to maintain the surface accuracy of the reflecting surface, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the mirror, and the space where the mirror is disposed. Will become bigger.

Moreover, in the said invention, it is preferable that the angle (beta) which the said reflective surface of the back | latter stage and the optical axis of the said objective optical system among the said reflective surfaces satisfy | fill the following conditional expressions.
80 ° <β <100 °

  Since the reflection surface at the rear stage has a relatively large area, it is desirable that the reflection surface is substantially orthogonal (β = 90 °) to the optical axis of the objective optical system. If β is smaller than 80 ° or larger than 100 °, the reflecting surface in the subsequent stage is inclined to take a space in the optical axis direction of the objective optical system.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that an image of the objective optical system can be guided to a position where it can be easily viewed while reducing the size and weight of the microscope main body.

It is a figure which shows the inverted microscope which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the modification of the inverted microscope of FIG.

An inverted microscope 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the inverted microscope 1 according to the present embodiment includes an objective optical system 3 disposed below a stage 2 on which a specimen A that is a subject is mounted, and a specimen A via the objective optical system 3. An illumination optical system 4 that supplies illumination light to irradiate the light, and an imaging optical system 5 that collects and shoots light from the specimen A, which is a infinity light beam that is condensed by the objective optical system 3 and goes downward in the vertical direction And an observation optical system 6 for condensing the light from the specimen A consisting of an infinite luminous flux and observing it visually.

  The illumination optical system 4 includes a light source 7 such as a mercury lamp that generates illumination light, a condensing optical system 8 that condenses the illumination light from the light source 7, and illumination light collected by the condensing optical system 8. A dichroic mirror 9 that deflects in the direction along the optical axis C of the objective optical system 3 is provided. By making the focal position of the condensing optical system 8 coincide with the rear focal position of the objective optical system 3, it is possible to irradiate the specimen A with illumination light consisting of substantially parallel light.

The objective optical system 3 condenses the light emitted from the specimen A and guides it vertically downward as a substantially infinite light beam.
The imaging optical system 5 includes a Dyke beam splitter 10 that splits the substantially infinite light beam guided by the objective optical system 3 for each wavelength, and two lights that focus and split the light branched by the beam splitter 10. Imaging optical systems (imaging imaging optical systems) 11 and 12 and imaging elements 13 and 14 that respectively arrange imaging surfaces at focal positions of the imaging optical systems 11 and 12 are provided.

  The observation optical system 6 is disposed in the optical path between the dichroic mirror 9 and the beam splitter 10 and is a beam splitter that branches a part of the substantially infinite light beam guided vertically downward by the objective optical system 3 in a substantially horizontal direction. 15, an imaging optical system 16 that focuses and splits the light branched by the beam splitter 15, a relay optical system 17 that relays an intermediate image formed by the imaging optical system 16, and the relay The light that has passed through the optical system 17 is reflected by a prism 18 that reflects obliquely upward, the binocular division prism 19 that divides the light reflected by the prism 18 into two, and relayed by a relay optical system 17. An eyepiece optical system 20 is provided that enlarges the image of the specimen A and forms images at positions where the retinas of both eyes E of the user are arranged. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a mirror.

The operation of the inverted microscope 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
According to the inverted microscope 1 according to the present embodiment, the illumination light emitted from the light source 7 of the illumination optical system 4 is condensed by the condensing optical system 8 and then the optical axis of the objective optical system 3 by the dichroic mirror 9. The sample A is deflected in the direction along C, and is irradiated by the objective optical system 3 onto the specimen A arranged on the stage 2 vertically above the objective optical system 3.

  The light emitted downward from the specimen A is condensed by the objective optical system 3 to become a substantially infinite light beam directed vertically downward, and a part of the portion transmitted through the dichroic mirror 9 is observed by the beam splitter 15 by the observation optical system 6. Fork. The substantially infinite light beam branched by the beam splitter 15 is condensed by the imaging optical system 16 after being branched, relayed by the relay optical system 17 and split into two by the binocular splitting prism 19, and then the eyepiece optics. The image of the sample A is enlarged by the system 20 and formed at a position where the retinas of the user's eyes E are arranged. The user can observe the image of the sample A in detail by placing an eye at the focal position of the eyepiece optical system 20.

  In this case, according to the inverted microscope 1 according to the present embodiment, the substantially infinite light beam collected by the objective optical system 3 is reflected by the beam splitter 15 before passing through the imaging optical system 16, and thus the eyepiece. Since it is directed to the optical system 6, there is an advantage that the optical path length to the eyepiece optical system 20 can be shortened as compared with the conventional inverted microscope that is reflected after passing through the imaging optical system 16. . As a result, a small and light inverted microscope 1 can be provided.

  On the other hand, of the substantially infinite light beam that has passed through the dichroic mirror 9, the portion that has passed through the beam splitter 15 is incident on the imaging optical system 5 and branched by the beam splitter 10, and then by the imaging optical systems 11 and 12. The light is collected and an image of the specimen A is formed on the imaging surfaces of the imaging elements 13 and 14. Thereby, each image pick-up element 13 and 14 can image | photograph the image of the sample A for every wavelength.

  In this case, according to the inverted microscope 1 according to the present embodiment, the specimen A is formed by the imaging optical systems 11 and 12 different from the imaging optical system 16 for the eyepiece optical system 20 provided in the observation optical system 6. Since the image is formed, there is an advantage that the photographing optical system 5 can be laid out freely without being restricted by the arrangement of the observation optical system 6. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, another beam splitter 10 'may be disposed on the optical path consisting of a substantially infinite light beam, and another imaging optical system 12' and imaging element 14 'may be provided.

In the present embodiment, the case where the observation optical system 6 deflects a substantially infinite light beam by 90 ° by the beam splitter 15 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. A prism 22 that branches obliquely downward may be employed.
The prism 22 preferably has two reflecting surfaces 22a and 22b that reflect a substantially infinite light beam twice, and an angle θ formed by these reflecting surfaces 22a and 22b preferably satisfies the following conditional expression.
20 ° <θ <40 °

  When θ is smaller than 20 °, the reflection surface 22b does not totally reflect. If θ is greater than 40 °, the light beam enters the reflecting surface 22b at a shallow angle. For this reason, the prism 22 becomes long and large, and becomes expensive.

Furthermore, it is preferable that the angle β formed by the subsequent reflecting surface 22b of the reflecting surfaces 22a and 22b and the optical axis C of the objective optical system 3 satisfies the following conditional expression.
80 ° <β <100 °
Since the reflection surface 22b in the subsequent stage has a relatively large area, it is desirable that the reflection surface 22b be substantially orthogonal (β = 90 °) to the optical axis of the objective optical system 3. If β is smaller than 80 ° or larger than 100 °, the reflecting surface 22b is inclined, so that a space is taken in the optical axis direction of the objective optical system 3.

  Further, a mirror may be used instead of the prism 22. In this case, if [theta] is smaller than 20 [deg.], The mirror constituting the reflection surface 22b in the subsequent stage will block the light beam unless the mirror interval is widened. In order to avoid this, the mirror is arranged. Space becomes big. On the other hand, if θ is larger than 40 °, the mirror constituting the subsequent reflecting surface 22b becomes long. For this reason, in order to maintain the surface accuracy of the reflecting surface 22b, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the mirror, which increases the space in which the mirror is disposed.

  In the present embodiment, the beam splitter 15 may be inserted into and removed from the optical axis C. In this case, since the beam splitter 15 is disposed in the optical path consisting of a substantially infinite light beam between the dichroic mirror 9 and the imaging optical system 5, the optical path length does not change even when the beam splitter 15 is inserted and removed. There is an advantage that when the lens 15 is detached, it is not necessary to adjust the optical path length such as inserting a dummy glass instead. In addition, when inserting / removing to / from the optical path, a mirror may be employed instead of the beam splitter 15.

A specimen (subject)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inverted microscope 3 Objective optical system 11, 12, 12 'Imaging optical system (imaging optical system for imaging | photography)
13, 14, 14 'Image sensor 15 Beam splitter (reflective member)
16 Imaging optical system 20 Eyepiece optical system 22 Prism (reflective member)
22a, 22b Reflecting surface

Claims (6)

An objective optical system that collects light from the subject;
A reflecting member that reflects at least a portion of the infinite light beam collected by the objective optical system;
An imaging optical system that focuses the infinity light beam reflected by the reflecting member to form an image of the subject;
An inverted microscope comprising: an eyepiece optical system for enlarging an image of the subject imaged by the imaging optical system. An imaging optical system for photographing that focuses the infinity light beam collected by the objective optical system to form an image of the subject;
An imaging element that captures an image of the subject imaged by the imaging optical system for imaging,
The inverted microscope according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting member is detachably provided in an optical path between the objective optical system and the imaging imaging optical system. The reflection member is provided so as to be able to pass through without reflecting at least a part of the infinite light beam from the objective optical system;
An imaging optical system for photographing that focuses the infinite light beam transmitted through the reflecting member to form an image of the subject;
The inverted microscope according to claim 1, further comprising: an imaging element that captures an image of the subject imaged by the imaging optical system for imaging.   The inverted microscope according to claim 3, wherein the reflecting member is detachably provided in an optical path between the objective optical system and the imaging imaging optical system. The reflecting member includes two reflecting surfaces that reflect the infinite luminous flux twice.
The inverted microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an angle θ formed by the reflecting surface satisfies the following conditional expression.
20 ° <θ <40 ° 6. The inverted microscope according to claim 5, wherein an angle β formed by the subsequent reflecting surface of the reflecting surface and the optical axis of the objective optical system satisfies the following conditional expression.
80 ° <β <100 °

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