JPH07120681A - Illuminating device of microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the illumination efficiency when a microscopic image is picked up by a primary image pickup element. CONSTITUTION:A collector lens 2, which is situated in an illumination light axis, converges the illumination light to form the image of a light source 1 at the position of an aperture diaphragm 3. A condenser lens 4 and an objective lens 7 are arranged in such a manner that the composed front focus position is made coincident with the position of the aperture diaphragm 3, and the image of the light source 1 formed at the position of the aperture diaphragm 3 is imaged at infinity. A cylindrical lens 5 is arranged between the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7 to form the image of the light source 1 formed at the position of the aperture diaphragm 3 onto a material 8 to be image-picked up by the combination with the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7. The arrangement and focus distance of the cylindrical lens 5 are determined so that the imaging magnification (m) is m<<1. Thus, a slender elliptic illumination area 9 having no illumination unevenness in the long axial direction is formed on the material 8, and the image of the material 8 in the illumination area 9 is enlarged and imaged on a line sensor 11 by the objective lens 7 and an imaging lens 10, and picked up.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microscope illuminating device, and more particularly to a microscope illuminating device applicable to the taking of a microscope image by a one-dimensional image pickup device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional microscope illumination device will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As a conventional technique, for example, a general technique described in "Optical Engineering Handbook", pages 634 to 635, is generally used.
There is a microscope illuminator called "Kohler illuminator".

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional microscope illuminating device.

In this conventional microscope illuminating device, a light source 1 which emits illumination light, a collector lens 2 which is a condenser lens for converging the illumination light in the illumination light axis, and the collector lens 2 are the light sources 1. Aperture stop 3 placed at the position where an image is formed
And a condenser lens 4 arranged such that the front focus position is aligned with the position of the aperture stop 3.

Next, the operation of the conventional microscope illuminating device will be described with reference to FIG.

A collector lens 2 which is a condenser lens is arranged in the illumination optical axis, and an aperture stop 3 is arranged at a position where the collector lens 2 forms an image of the light source 1. Further, the condenser lens 4 is arranged so that the front focus position of the combination with the objective lens 7 coincides with the position of the aperture stop 3. The half mirror 6 is arranged between the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7, and bends the illumination light toward the object 8 side. The image forming lens 10 constitutes a microscope image forming optical system together with the objective lens 7, and forms an enlarged image of the object 8 on the line sensor 11 which is a one-dimensional image pickup device.

First, the collector lens 2 forms an image of the light source 1 at the position of the aperture stop 3. Next, the illumination light is irradiated onto the object 8 through the condenser lens 4, the half mirror 7, and the objective lens 7. At this time, the aperture stop 3 is located at the front focus position of the combination of the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7. Therefore, the image of the light source 1 can be made infinite, and a circular illumination area 9 having no illumination unevenness is formed on the object 8 to be imaged.

[0009]

The above-described conventional microscope illuminating device has low illumination efficiency when the image is picked up by a one-dimensional image pickup element because the illumination area is circular and illuminates a portion other than the image pickup area. There was a drawback.

[0010]

A microscope illuminator according to the present invention includes a light source for emitting illumination light, a condenser lens for converging the illumination light in the illumination optical axis, and the condenser lens for forming an image of the light source. The image of the light source formed at the position of the aperture stop by the combination of the aperture stop placed at the position where the image is formed, the condenser lens having the front focus position aligned with the position of the aperture stop, and the condenser lens is taken. It is characterized in that it includes a cylindrical lens arranged at a position where an image is formed above.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a microscope illuminating device according to the present invention.

In the microscope illuminator of this embodiment, a light source 1 for emitting illumination light, a collector lens 2 which is a condenser lens for converging the illumination light in the illumination light axis, and the collector lens 2 are the light sources 1 Aperture stop 3 placed at the position where an image is formed
And the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7 arranged so that their combined front focal positions coincide with the position of the aperture stop 3.
And a cylindrical lens which is disposed between the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7 and forms an image of the light source 1 formed on the position of the aperture stop 3 by the combination of the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7 on the object 8. A (cylindrical) lens 5, a half mirror 6 arranged between the cylindrical lens 5 and the objective lens 7 to bend the illumination light toward the object 8 to be imaged, an objective lens 7 forming an image forming optical system of the microscope, and an image formation. Lens 10
And a line sensor 11 which is a one-dimensional image sensor arranged at the image forming position of the image forming lens 10.

Next, the operation of the microscope illuminating device of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is an optical layout diagram showing the principle of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are views showing directions in which the optical layouts differ by 90 degrees.

FIG. 2A shows a surface on which the cylindrical lens 5 acts as a lens. Further, for simplicity, the half mirror 6 and the optical system on the image pickup side are omitted, and each lens is an ideal lens as a main plane. Only the position of is shown. Of these, the composite principal plane (a) 12 is the principal plane of the combination of the condenser lens 4, the cylindrical lens 5, and the objective lens 7. Since the cylindrical lens 5 does not act as a lens in the plane of FIG. Main plane (b) 1
Reference numeral 3 is a principal plane of a combination of the condenser lens 4 and the objective lens 7.

First, the collector lens 2 forms an image of the light source 1 at the position of the aperture stop 3. Next, the illumination light is a condenser lens 4, a cylindrical lens 5, a half mirror 6,
The object 8 is irradiated with the light through the objective lens 7. At this time, the cylindrical lens 5 acts as a lens on the plane shown in FIG.
Thus, the image of the light source 1 formed at the position of the aperture stop 3 is formed on the object 8 to be imaged. Here, assuming that the object distance and the image distance are S and S ′ with respect to the synthetic principal plane (a) 12, the imaging magnification m at this time is m = S ′ / S, and m << 1 Then, the arrangement of the cylindrical lens 5 and the focal length are determined. Further, on the plane shown in FIG. 2B, since the cylindrical lens 5 does not function as a lens and the aperture stop 3 is at the front focal point of the synthetic main plane (b) 13,
The image of the light source 1 by the synthetic principal plane (b) 13 is formed at infinity.

As a result, an elongated elliptical illumination area 9 having no illumination unevenness in the major axis direction is formed on the object 8 to be imaged, and the image of the object 8 in the illumination area 9 is formed by the objective lens 7. A magnified image is formed on the line sensor 11 by the imaging lens 10 and an image is taken.

The brightness and the image contrast can be changed by making the diameter of the aperture stop 3 variable.

[0020]

As described above, the microscope illuminator of the present invention uses a cylindrical lens together with a condenser lens to form a long and narrow elliptical illumination area on the object to be imaged with no illumination unevenness in the major axis direction. By doing so, when the image is captured by the one-dimensional image sensor, the illumination light can be condensed only in the image capturing area, and the illumination efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a microscope illumination device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an optical layout diagram showing the principle of the present invention. Figure 2
FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are diagrams in which the optical arrangement is different by 90 degrees.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional microscope illumination device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Light Source 2 Collector Lens 3 Aperture Stop 4 Condenser Lens 5 Cylindrical Lens 6 Half Mirror 7 Objective Lens 8 Image Object 9 Illumination Area 10 Imaging Lens 11 Line Sensor 12 Synthetic Main Plane (a) 13 Synthetic Main Plane (b)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A light source for emitting illumination light, a condenser lens for converging the illumination light in the illumination optical axis, and an aperture stop arranged at a position where the condenser lens forms an image of the light source. A position at which an image of the light source formed at the position of the aperture stop is formed on the object to be imaged by a combination of a condenser lens arranged such that the front focal position is aligned with the position of the aperture stop and the condenser lens. A microscope illuminating device, comprising: 2. The microscope illumination device according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of the aperture stop is variable.