JPH0921959A - Confocal optical scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain compactness and a low cost and to reduce optical aberration by arranging a Nipkow's disk between a motor which rotates the Nipkow's disk in which a fine aperture is arranged in array shape and a camera mount. SOLUTION: The Nipkow's disk 13 is arranged between the motor 14 which rotates the Nipkow's disk 13 in which the fine apertures are arranged in an array shape and the camera mount 23 of a microscope part 20, and the Nipkow' s disk 13 is made to approach up to an image-forming position toward the microscope part 20. A laser beam 11 transmits a beam splitter 12 and the fine aperture (pin hole) of the Nipkow's disk, and it is made incident from the camera mount 23 of the microscope part 20, and scans data 22 by the rotation of the motor 14. Return light from the data 22 passes the same route as that in incidence, and reflected on the beam splitter, and image-formed on an image- forming lens 16. Such image is captured by a camera 17. Therefore, no relay lens is required, and consequently, the optical aberration is reduced, which easily provides a confocal optical scanner of compactness and low cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a confocal optical scanner using a Nipkow disk attached to a camera mount of a microscope, and more specifically, to realize a compact and low cost confocal optical scanner by reducing optical aberration. It is about the improvement of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional apparatus in which a confocal optical scanner using a Nipkow disk is mounted on a camera mount of a microscope. In the figure, 10 is a confocal optical scanner, and 20 is a microscope section. In the confocal optical scanner 10, the laser light 11 passes through the beam splitter 12 and is applied to the Nipkow disk 13. The Nipkow disk 13 has a plurality of minute apertures (pinholes) arranged in an array (not shown), and the light transmitted through the minute apertures is focused by the relay lens 15 at the image forming position 24 of the microscope section 20, Further, the light enters from the camera mount 23 of the microscope section 20, passes through the objective lens 21, and is irradiated onto the surface of the sample 22.

Light passing through many pinholes of the Nipkow disk 13 illuminates the sample all at once, so that many points of the sample are simultaneously irradiated. A large number of pinholes are arranged on the Nipkow disk along a spiral path, and by rotating the Nipkow disk 13, the sample surface can be raster-scanned.

The reflected light reflected by the sample 22 is the objective lens 2
1 and relay lens 15 and Nipkow disk 13
Through the pinhole in the beam splitter 12,
The light reflected by the beam splitter 12 forms an image forming lens 16
Is focused on the light receiving surface of the camera 17. Since the Nipkow disk 13 is rotated and raster scanning is performed, a two-dimensional image of the sample surface can be obtained on the light receiving surface of the camera 17.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, the image forming position 24 of the camera mount 23 is extended by the relay lens 15 and an image is formed on the Nipkow disk 13.
When the distance from the camera mount 23 to the image forming position 24 is C mount, it is as short as 17.5 mm.
A relay lens was necessary to secure the height of the motor for rotating the motor 3. Therefore, the conventional apparatus has a problem that the aberration due to the relay lens increases, the optical system is large, and it is expensive.

An object of the present invention is to dispose a motor for rotating the Nipkow disk on the side opposite to the camera mount with the Nipkow disk interposed therebetween, thereby eliminating the need for a relay lens.
An object of the present invention is to provide a compact and low-cost confocal optical scanner with little optical aberration.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, according to the present invention, a confocal light having a motor for rotating a Nipkow disk having microscopic apertures arranged in an array and attached to a camera mount of a microscope is used. The scanner is characterized in that the Nipkow disk is arranged between the motor and the camera mount.

[0008]

The motor for rotating the Nipkow disk, which is arranged between the Nipkow disk and the microscope section, is arranged above the Nipkow disk. As a result, the pinhole on the Nipkow disk can be brought close to the image formation position on the camera mount,
The relay lens, which was required in the past, becomes unnecessary. As a result, a compact confocal optical scanner with little optical aberration can be realized.

[0009]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a confocal optical scanner according to the present invention. The same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description of those parts will be omitted. 1 is different from FIG. 3 in that a motor 14 for rotating the Nipkow disk 13 is arranged above the Nipkow disk to bring the Nipkow disk 13 close to the microscope section 20 up to the image forming position 24, and the relay lens 15 is unnecessary. .

In such a configuration, the laser light 11
Passes through the pinholes of the beam splitter 12 and the Nipkow disk 13, enters from the camera mount 23 of the microscope section 20, and is rotated by the motor 14 to scan the sample 22. Return light (reflected light) from the sample 22 follows the same optical path as that of the incident light, is reflected by the beam splitter 12, and is imaged by the imaging lens 16. This image can be captured by the camera 17.

By installing the motor 14 on the side opposite to the camera mount 23 with the Nipkow disk 13 interposed therebetween, the Nipkow disk 13 and the camera mount 23 can be easily brought close to each other, and the Nipkow disk 13 is separated from the C mount portion by 17.5 mm. Can be placed directly at the image position.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and many changes and modifications can be made without departing from the essence of the present invention. For example, a microlens disk 18 may be provided as shown in FIG. The microlens disk 18 has a hole having the same pattern as the pinhole of the Nipkow disk 13 (its diameter is larger than the diameter of the pinhole).
It has a micro lens attached to each hole and is connected to the Nipkow disk 13 and rotates integrally with the Nipkow disk 13. The microlens is for focusing the incident laser light on the pinhole position immediately below, and has the effect of increasing the utilization efficiency of the laser light.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, by arranging the motor on the side opposite to the camera mount with the Nipkow disc interposed, the Nipkow disc can be arranged at the image forming position of the camera mount, and the conventional use is possible. The relay lens, which has been used, is no longer necessary, and as a result, a compact and inexpensive confocal optical scanner can be easily realized with little optical aberration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a confocal optical scanner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional confocal optical scanner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Confocal Optical Scanner Section 11 Laser Light 12 Beam Splitter 13 Nipkow Disc 14 Motor 15 Relay Lens 16 Imaging Lens 17 Camera 18 Microlens Disk 20 Microscope Section 21 Objective Lens 22 Sample 23 Camera Mount 24 Imaging Position

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A confocal optical scanner having a motor for rotating a Nipkow disk having minute openings arranged in an array and used by being attached to a camera mount of a microscope section, wherein the Nipkow disk is arranged between the motor and the camera mount. A confocal optical scanner characterized by being configured as described above. 2. A micro-opening of the Nipkow disk has holes of the same pattern, and a microlens is attached to each of the holes so that the incident light is focused on the micro-opening of the Nipkow disk by the microlens. 2. The confocal optical scanner according to claim 1, further comprising a microlens disk configured to rotate integrally with the Nipkow disk.