JPH049002A - Laser microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the contrast of an obtained image high by irradiating a body to be measured with laser light twice. CONSTITUTION:The incident light has its wave front shaped through a pinhole 3 and is transmitted through a half-mirror 4 and a polarization beam splitter 5 and collimated by a collimator lens 6 into parallel light, which is made incident on a 1/4-wavelength plate 7 becomes circular polarized light; and this light is made incident on an objective lens 8 and focused on the body 9 to be measured. The 1st time reflected light from the body 9 to be measured is reflected by the polarization beam splitter 5, reflected by a phase conjugate mirror 10, and the polarization beam splitter 5 in order, and focused on the body 9 to be measured, and the 2nd reflected light, on the other hand, is reflected by a half-mirror 4, and made incident on a photodetector 11 and converted photoelectrically to extract an image of the object body 9. Thus, the body 9 to be measured is irradiated with the laser light twice to increase the contrast of the obtained image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention <Industrial Field of Application> The present invention relates to a laser microscope controller used for obtaining an enlarged image of a minute object using laser light for illumination.
and regarding improved resolution.

<Prior Art> In recent years, with the advancement of lasers, microscopes have been devised that utilize the excellent coherence of lasers. The advantage of good coherence is that it can be focused to a spot as small as -1 min, and therefore a fairly strong light intensity can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a laser microscope that takes advantage of the fact that such laser light is coherent and powerful and uses it as an illumination light source for a scanning optical microscope. In the figure, output light from a laser light source 1 enters an objective lens 2 and is focused on a binhole 3. pinhole 3
The wavefront of the light that has passed is shaped, passes through the half mirror 4, and enters the objective lens 8. The incident light is focused to the diffraction limit and illuminates the object 9 to be measured as a minute bright spot.

The reflected light from the object to be measured 9 passes through the objective lens 8, is reflected by the half mirror 4, and is guided to the photodetector 1j. The photodetector 11 performs photoelectric conversion and takes out an image of the object to be measured 9 as an electrical output. Further, by scanning the measured object 9 in the χV force direction by the measured object driving section 12, a two-dimensional image of the measured object 9 can be obtained.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the laser microscope shown in the above-mentioned prior art, the output light from the laser light source 1 is irradiated onto the object to be measured 9 only once, and the output light is not detected by the photodetector 11. The optical system is configured such that an image of the object 9 to be measured is taken out. Therefore, there was a problem that the contrast of the image of the object to be measured 9 taken out by the photodetector 11 was low, and it was also affected by aberrations of the objective lens used in the optical system.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and its purpose is to provide a laser microscope that can enhance the contrast of an obtained image and eliminate the influence of aberrations of the optical system.

Means for Solving the Problems> The configuration of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a laser light source, a first objective lens into which the output light of the laser light source is incident, and a light beam condensed by the objective lens. A pinhole into which light is incident, an optical element into which light whose wavefront has been shaped by this pinhole is incident, a polarizing beam splitter into which light transmitted through this optical element is incident, and this polarizing beam splitter. A collimator lens into which the transmitted light enters, a quarter-wave plate into which the light parallelized by the collimator lens enters, and a light whose polarization has been changed by the quarter-wave plate into the object to be measured. a second objective lens that focuses light upward; a phase conjugate mirror through which the first reflected light from the object to be measured is reflected by the polarization beam splitter and enters; and a phase conjugate mirror through which the light reflected by the phase conjugate mirror is incident. After being incident on the object to be measured again, the second reflected light is reflected by the optical element and enters the photodetector, and the object to be measured is detected at χV.
The object to be measured is driven by a drive section for moving the object in the force direction, and the object to be measured is irradiated with laser light twice using the phase conjugate mirror.

Effect> According to the present invention, the object to be measured is irradiated with laser light twice, and the contrast of the obtained image can be increased. In addition, the optical system uses a phase conjugate mirror, so that aberrations in the optical system and phase disturbances caused by reflection from the object to be measured can be removed.

<Example> Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a laser microscope according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same elements as those in FIG. 2 are given the same reference numerals and redundant explanations will be omitted. In the figure,
5 is a polarizing beam splitter that selects the optical path depending on the polarization of the laser beam; 6 is a collimator lens that converts the laser beam into parallel light; 7 is a quarter-wave plate that changes the polarization of the laser beam; 1
0 is a phase conjugate mirror that reflects laser light.

In such a configuration, linearly polarized light parallel to the drawing, emitted from the laser light source 1, is focused by the objective lens 2 and is incident on the pinhole 3.

The wavefront of the incident light is shaped by a pin pole 3, passes through a half mirror 4 and a polarizing beam splitter 5, and enters a collimator lens 6. The incident light is made into parallel light by the collimator lens 6, and is incident on the 1/4 wavelength plate 7 to become circularly polarized light, and is incident on the objective lens 8, where it is focused on the object to be measured 9. The first reflected light from the object to be measured 9 becomes reversely circularly polarized light, which is converted into parallel light by the objective lens 8 and is 1/
The light is incident on the four-wavelength plate 7. The incident light becomes linearly polarized light perpendicular to the plane of the paper by the quarter-wave plate 7, is condensed by the collimator lens 6, is reflected by the 1-wave beam splitter 5, and is incident on the phase conjugate mirror 10. . The incident light is
Phase conjugate mirror 10. The light is sequentially reflected by the polarizing beam splitter 5 and enters the collimator lens 6 again. The incident light is collimated by the collimator lens 6 and becomes 1□'4
The light becomes circularly polarized by the wavelength plate 7, enters the objective lens 8, and is focused on the target object 9-1-t. The second reflected light from the object to be measured 9 becomes a reverse circular light and is reflected by the objective lens 8.
The light is converted into V-row light and is incident on the /4 wavelength plate 7.

The incident light becomes linearly polarized light parallel to the plane of the paper by the ]/'4 wavelength plate 7, is condensed by the collimator lens 6, passes through the polarizing beam splitter 5, is reflected by the hafumitsu 4, and is sent to the photodetector 11. The light is incident on the photodetector 11, where it is photoelectrically converted and an image of the object to be measured 9 is taken out as an electrical output 1). Further, by moving the measured object 9 in the χV force direction by the measured object driving section 12, a two-dimensional image of the measured object 9 can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the object to be measured 9 is irradiated with two L-ray beams, and the contrast of the obtained image can be greatly reduced. Further, a phase conjugate mirror 10 is used in the optical system, and the phase of the laser light incident on the phase conjugate mirror 10 is time-reversed and reflected. Therefore, = l remeter lens 6.1
．． /4 wavelength plate7. It is possible to eliminate the aberration of the objective lens 8 and correct the phase disturbance upon reflection from the object to be measured 9.

In the two-layer embodiment, in order to obtain a two-dimensional image of the object to be measured, the object to be measured is driven by the object driving section 12.
Although the laser beam is scanned in the V force direction, it is also possible to scan the laser beam using a polygon mirror, etc., and the scanning speed can be set to 1 =
can be used. Also, polarized Pino ＼ splitter 1/
By providing between the four-wavelength plate 7 and the objective lens 8, f
It is also possible to reduce the influence of the polarization characteristics of the dual optical beam splitter.Furthermore, the 1/4 wavelength plate 7 may be a Faraday polarizer.

<Effects of the Invention> As specifically explained in 1 above and in conjunction with the embodiments, according to the present invention, since the object 311 is irradiated with two laser beams, the obtained image has can be made higher. In addition, since a phase conjugate mirror is used in the optical system to guide the light whose wavefront has been inverted back to the original optical path, it is possible to eliminate the aberration of the 1-character system, the a+ a+, and the disturbance of the position M1 caused by the treasure. It has advantages such as improved resolution and the ability to realize the microscope.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a laser microscope according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional laser microscope 81. 1... Rayleigh light source, 2.8... Objective lens, 3.
...Pin pole, 4.Half mirror 15...Polarizing beam filter, 6.2R meter lens,
7... 4/4 wavelength plate, 0... Measured object, 10... Phase conjugate mirror, 11... Photodetector, 12... Measured object drive unit. =11-

Claims (1)

[Claims] A laser light source, a first objective lens into which the output light of the laser light source is incident, a pinhole into which the light focused by the objective lens is incident, and the light whose wavefront has been shaped by the pinhole is incident. a polarizing beam splitter into which the light transmitted through the optical element is incident;
A collimator lens into which the light transmitted through the polarizing beam splitter is incident, a quarter-wave plate into which the light parallelized by the collimator lens is incident, and the polarization property can be changed by this quarter-wave plate. a second objective lens that focuses light onto the object to be measured; a phase conjugate mirror through which the first reflected light from the object to be measured is reflected by the polarizing beam splitter and enters; and this phase conjugate mirror; a photodetector in which the reflected light is incident on the object to be measured again and becomes a second reflected light and is reflected by the optical element; and an object to be measured that moves the object to be measured in x and y directions. A laser microscope, comprising: a driving section, and configured to irradiate the object to be measured with laser light twice using the phase conjugate mirror.