JP2016126273A - microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To repeat an image acquisition as quickly moving a focus position with oscillation curbed.SOLUTION: A microscope 1 comprises: a microscope main body 2; and a focusing mechanism 3 that is attached to the microscope main body 2. The focusing mechanism 3 includes: an arm part 11 that holds any of a stage 6 loading a sample A or an objective lens 4 arranged to face the sample A on the stage 6; a base part 10 that supports the arm part 11 movably in a vertical direction; and a drive unit that moves the arm part 11 in the vertical direction with respect to the base part 10. The microscope 1 is provided that is anchored with an oscillation-proof member 15 interposed between the base part 10 of the focusing mechanism 3 and the microscope main body 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a microscope.

Conventionally, a microscope including a focusing mechanism that electrically drives the vertical movement of a stage is known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
The focusing mechanism of the microscope is rigidly fixed to the microscope body with screws or the like.

JP-A-8-50247

  However, like the microscope described in Patent Document 1, when the focusing mechanism is rigidly fixed to the microscope body, the focusing mechanism is driven so as to repeat the raising and lowering operation and the stopping operation of the stage. There is an inconvenience that the vibration generated by the inertia of the stage mounted on the focusing mechanism is difficult to converge and it takes time to acquire an image. Even in a focusing mechanism that raises and lowers the objective lens instead of the stage, the inertia of the revolver and the objective lens is large, so that a problem of vibration is more likely to occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a microscope capable of repeating image acquisition while suppressing the occurrence of vibration and quickly moving the focal position.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
One aspect of the present invention includes a microscope main body and a focusing mechanism attached to the microscope main body, and the focusing mechanism is a stage on which a specimen is placed or an objective lens that is disposed to face the specimen on the stage. The focusing mechanism comprising: an arm portion for holding any one of them; a base portion for supporting the arm portion so as to be movable in the vertical direction; and a drive unit for moving the arm portion in the vertical direction with respect to the base portion. A microscope in which the base portion of the microscope and the microscope main body are fixed with a vibration isolating member interposed therebetween is provided.

  According to this aspect, when the arm portion is moved up and down with respect to the base portion by the operation of the driving portion and then suddenly stopped, the arm or the objective lens is held by the arm portion, and the arm is moved by the inertial energy of the stage. The vibration isolation member is interposed between the base unit and the microscope body, so that the inertia energy transmitted from the arm unit to the base unit is absorbed by the vibration isolation member, and vibration is quickly generated. Can be converged to. That is, even when the raising / lowering operation of the arm unit and the sudden stop are repeated, the vibration is not sustained, so that the arm unit can be stopped at an early stage to shift to an image acquisition operation, and the observation time can be shortened. it can.

In the above aspect, the base portion includes a contact portion that is in direct contact with the microscope main body, and a movable portion that is disposed with a gap with respect to the microscope main body and is arranged so that the gap size can be changed by elastic deformation. And the vibration isolation member may be sandwiched between the microscope main body and the movable part.
By doing so, the base part is fixed to the microscope main body in a positioning state by bringing the contact part into direct contact with the microscope main body, and the movable part and the microscope main body by elastic deformation of the base part accompanying the movement of the arm part. By compressing or expanding the vibration isolating member sandwiched between them, the inertia energy transmitted to the base portion can be efficiently absorbed.

Moreover, in the said aspect, you may provide the adjustment part which adjusts the said clearance gap dimension.
By doing in this way, the crushing allowance of the anti-vibration member pinched | interposed into the clearance gap can be adjusted by adjusting a clearance gap dimension by the action | operation of an adjustment part. Thereby, it can set to the optimal state which can generate | occur | produce an anti-vibration effect for an anti-vibration member, and can attenuate a vibration more effectively.

Moreover, in the said aspect, the said vibration isolating member may be comprised with the resin material.
By doing in this way, the vibration of the arm part by the drive of a focusing mechanism can be attenuated with a simple configuration.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of vibration and to repeat image acquisition while moving the focal position quickly.

It is a front view showing a microscope concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is the top view which fractured | ruptured a part which shows the positional relationship of the focusing mechanism and microscope main body of the microscope of FIG. It is a front view which shows the 1st modification of the microscope of FIG. It is a front view which shows the 2nd modification of the microscope of FIG. It is a front view which shows the 3rd modification of the microscope of FIG. It is a front view which shows the 4th modification of the microscope of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the microscope of FIG.

A microscope 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The microscope 1 according to the present embodiment is a fluorescence microscope, and includes a microscope main body 2, a focusing mechanism 3, and an objective lens 4 supported by the focusing mechanism 3, as shown in FIG. Yes.

  The microscope main body 2 is provided on the main body base 5, the stage 6 on which the specimen A is mounted, and the excitation light L from a light source (not shown) is deflected to irradiate the specimen A through the objective lens 4. A fluorescent cube 7 that transmits the fluorescence from the specimen A collected by the objective lens 4, an eyepiece optical system 8 for visually observing the fluorescence transmitted through the fluorescent cube 7, and a camera 9 that acquires a fluorescent image It has.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the focusing mechanism 3 includes a base portion 10 fixed to the main body base 5 of the microscope main body 2, supported so as to be movable up and down with respect to the base portion 10, and a fluorescent cube 7 and a stage 6. An arm portion 11 that holds the objective lens 4 and a drive portion 12 that drives the arm portion 11 up and down are provided.

The fluorescent cube 7 includes an excitation filter (not shown) that transmits a specific wavelength of the excitation light L from the light source, and a dichroic mirror (not shown) that deflects the excitation light L that has passed through the excitation filter and transmits fluorescence from the specimen A. And an absorption filter (not shown) that removes the excitation light L included in the fluorescence transmitted through the dichroic mirror, and is an optical element for observing desired fluorescence.
The driving unit 12 includes a motor 13 and a ball screw mechanism 14 that transmits the driving force of the motor 13 to the arm unit 11.

  In the present embodiment, the base portion 10 of the focusing mechanism 3 is fastened to the main body base 5 with screws 16 with a flat vibration-proof rubber (vibration-proof member) 15 sandwiched between the main body base 5 of the microscope main body 2. Has been. The anti-vibration rubber 15 is made of, for example, a general rubber material such as urethane rubber or silicone rubber, or a resin material including an elastomer such as a polyurethane near-gel material elastomer. The anti-vibration rubber 15 functions as a damper that absorbs energy when deformed by receiving a compression force or an extension force.

The operation of the microscope 1 according to this embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
In order to observe the specimen A using the microscope 1 according to the present embodiment, the specimen A is mounted on the stage 6 and the excitation light L is emitted from the light source in a state where the objective lens 4 is disposed vertically above the specimen A. Let The excitation light L emitted from the light source is deflected by the fluorescent cube 7, collected by the objective lens 4 below vertically, and irradiated on the specimen A.

  In the specimen A, the fluorescent substance contained in the region irradiated with the excitation light L is excited to generate fluorescence. The generated fluorescence is collected by the objective lens 4, can be observed through the eyepiece optical system 8 through the fluorescent cube 7, and a fluorescent image can be acquired by the camera 9.

  The fluorescence observation of the specimen A is performed while moving the focal position of the objective lens 4 in the specimen A in the direction of the optical axis S of the objective lens 4. In order to move the focal position of the objective lens 4 in the direction of the optical axis S, the driving unit 12 is operated to transmit the driving force of the motor 13 to the arm unit 11 via the ball screw mechanism 14 and supported by the arm unit 11. The objective lens 4 is moved up and down.

  When the driving force of the motor 13 is transmitted to the arm unit 11, the arm unit 11 moves up and down and the focal position of the objective lens 4 moves in the sample A. Therefore, the arm unit 11 is stopped and each position in the optical axis S direction is stopped. A plurality of fluorescent images over a predetermined depth range of the specimen A are acquired by photographing the fluorescence generated by irradiating the excitation light L in a state where the focal position is placed on the specimen A. Thereby, the three-dimensional fluorescence observation of the sample A can be performed.

  In this case, the microscope 1 according to this embodiment includes the focusing mechanism 3 in the state in which the anti-vibration rubber 15 is sandwiched between the base portion 10 of the focusing mechanism 3 and the body base 5 of the microscope body 2. Since the arm unit 11 is moved up and down or stopped by driving the motor 13, the vibration isolating rubber is used by the inertial energy of the arm unit 11 and the objective lens 4 held by the arm unit 11. 15 is deformed.

  Thereby, the inertia energy which vibrates the arm part 11 is absorbed by the deformation | transformation of the vibration proof rubber 15, Therefore The vibration of the arm part 11 can be converged at an early stage. That is, even if the raising / lowering operation and the stopping operation of the arm unit 11 are repeated by driving the motor 13, the vibration of the objective lens 4 fixed to the arm unit 11 can be quickly converged and stopped at each position. There is an advantage that a fluorescent image can be acquired at an early stage.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the base portion 10 of the focusing mechanism 3 and the main body base 5 of the microscope main body 2 are fixed in a state of being completely isolated by the anti-vibration rubber 15. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base portion 10 and the main body base 5 may be partially brought into direct contact with each other.

  That is, in the example shown in FIG. 3, a step is provided on the attachment surface of the base portion 10 to the main body base 5, and the contact portion 17 that is formed one step higher is provided at a position away from the objective lens 4 of the arm portion 11. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the contact portion 17 is provided at a position close to the objective lens 4 of the arm portion 11.

In these cases, when the contact portion 17 is brought into direct contact with the main body base 5 and fastened with the screw 16, a gap is formed between the portion (movable portion) 18 formed lower and the main body base 5. The flat vibration-proof rubber 15 is sandwiched between the gaps.
By doing in this way, since the contact part 17 of the base part 10 is fixed in the state which contacted the main body base 5 directly, the base part 10 can be positioned to the main body base 5 accurately.

In addition, the movable portion 18 that is separated from the main body base 5 with a gap leaves the gap with the main body base 5 when the main body base 5 is elastically deformed by the inertial energy of the arm portion 11 and the objective lens 4. Since it is reduced or enlarged, the vibration isolating rubber 15 sandwiched therebetween can be deformed to absorb the inertia energy.
That is, according to the structure of FIGS. 3 and 4, it is possible to achieve both accurate positioning of the base portion 10 and effective vibration isolation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a bracket (adjustment unit) 19 supported so as to be movable in the thickness direction of the vibration isolating rubber 15 is arranged on the installation surface of the vibration isolating rubber 15 of the main body base 5, and a screw 20. By adjusting the position of the bracket 19 according to the fastening amount of the (adjusting part), the crushing allowance of the vibration isolating rubber 15 may be adjusted.
By doing so, the vibration isolating rubber 15 can be brought into close contact with both the main body base 5 of the microscope main body 2 and the base portion 10 of the focusing mechanism 3, and by achieving an appropriate crushing margin, inertial energy can be achieved. Can be effectively absorbed.

The crushing allowance of the anti-vibration rubber 15 may be determined depending on the dimensions, or may be determined by measuring the pressing force until the desired pressing force is achieved.
Further, the bracket 19 is movably disposed on the main body base 5 side, but the bracket 19 may be movably disposed on the base portion 10 side of the focusing mechanism 3.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the microscope 1 is a fluorescent microscope using the camera 9 has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. It may be switchable to LSM). In this case, the microscope 1 includes a laser light source 22 that generates laser light H and a scan unit 21 that scans the laser light H from the laser light source 22, as shown in FIGS.

  The scan unit 21 deflects the laser light H transmitted from the laser light source 22 through the optical fiber 23, and the laser light H deflected by the dichroic mirror 24 in a two-dimensional direction (for example, X, A two-dimensional scanner (XY galvanometer mirror) 25 that scans in the Y direction), a confocal lens 26 that collects the fluorescence transmitted through the dichroic mirror 24, and a confocal pin that allows the fluorescence collected by the confocal lens 26 to pass through. A hole 27 and a photodetector (for example, a photomultiplier tube) 28 for detecting fluorescence that has passed through the confocal pinhole 27 are provided.

  Specifically, when observation is performed using LSM, the scanner unit 21 is disposed on the optical axis S instead of the camera 9, and the fluorescent cube 7 is detached from the optical axis S. Thereby, the sample A can be irradiated with the laser beam H with the optical path of the laser beam H and the optical axis S aligned.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the microscope 1 is connected to a control device (for example, PC) 29 that controls the microscope 1. The control device 29 includes a camera 9, a driver 30 that drives the motor 13 and the two-dimensional scanner 25 of the focusing mechanism 3, a signal processing device 31 that processes an output signal from the photodetector 28, a camera 9, A monitor 32 that outputs an image acquired by the microscope 1 is connected.

  The signal processing device 31 includes an IV converter (for example, a buffer) that converts the fluorescence intensity signal from the photodetector 28 into an IV, and an A / D converter that converts the signal converted by the IV converter. / D converter.

  The control device 29 controls the two-dimensional scanner 25 so that the laser beam H is scanned two-dimensionally on the specimen A. As a result, the control device 29 combines the intensity signal of the fluorescence from the specimen A acquired by the photodetector 28 with the scanning position information of the two-dimensional scanner 25 input to the driver 30 to scan the X and Y directions. Is generated and output to the monitor 32.

  LSM can acquire a slice image of the focus surface by the confocal effect. By repeatedly scanning in the X and Y directions while shifting the position in the Z direction by the focusing mechanism 3, a bundle of slice images (XYZ images) in a predetermined range of the Z position can be acquired. In this case, the coordinated operation of scanning in the X and Y directions and Z position adjustment is performed by the control of the two-dimensional scanner 25 and the focusing mechanism 3 by the control device 29.

  LSM is an X, Y, Z direction scan (hereinafter referred to as an XYZ scan) in which the focusing mechanism 3 is intermittently moved (for example, scanned in the X, Y direction while stopped at a predetermined Z position, and then predetermined). To repeat the scanning in the X and Y directions by moving from the Z position to a different position in the Z direction and re-stopping.), The vibration of the anti-vibration rubber 15 is quickly converged. Thus, there is an advantage that fluorescence observation can be performed more efficiently.

In addition, when performing XYZ scanning using LSM, a small focusing mechanism (for example, a piezoelectric element driving type precision focusing device) different from the focusing mechanism 3 is attached to a portion where the objective lens 4 is attached in the arm portion 11. XYZ scan may be performed while driving the small focusing mechanism and shifting the Z position in the Z direction. In this case, the focusing mechanism 3 is stopped.
By doing in this way, the vibration which generate | occur | produces by operation | movement of a small focusing mechanism is suppressed by the anti-vibration rubber | gum 15, and XYZ scanning can be sped up.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the microscope 1 includes a micro-aperture disk scanning optical system and acquires an image using the camera 9, a confocal image is acquired using the micro-aperture disk scanning optical system. You may make it do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Microscope 2 Microscope main body 3 Focusing mechanism 4 Objective lens 6 Stage 10 Base part 11 Arm part 12 Drive part 15 Anti-vibration rubber (anti-vibration member)
17 Contact part 18 Movable part 19 Bracket (adjustment part)
20 Screw (Adjustment part)

Claims (4)

The microscope body,
A focusing mechanism attached to the microscope body,
An arm unit that holds either the stage on which the sample is placed or an objective lens that is arranged to face the sample on the stage; and a base unit that supports the arm unit so as to be movable in the vertical direction. A drive unit that moves the arm unit up and down with respect to the base unit,
A microscope in which a base portion of the focusing mechanism and the microscope main body are fixed with a vibration isolating member interposed therebetween. The base portion includes a contact portion that is in direct contact with the microscope main body, and a movable portion that is arranged with a gap with respect to the microscope main body and is arranged so that the gap size can be changed by elastic deformation,
The microscope according to claim 1, wherein the vibration isolating member is sandwiched between the microscope main body and the movable part.   The microscope according to claim 2, further comprising an adjustment unit that adjusts the gap size. The microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the vibration-proof member is made of a resin material.

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