KR20140020737A - Apparatus to provide beam by using near infrared light source - Google Patents

Abstract

A beam radiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a light source which generates near infrared light; a light distributor which is connected to the light source by an optical fiber and distributes the light to multiple rays of light; and multiple radiation units which receive the light distributed from the light distributor and radiates a near infrared beam toward an object to be measured. A beam which is radiated from the multiple radiation units to the object to be measured is directed towards an object lens by being reflected from the object to be measured. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the beam radiation apparatus is able to reduce the loss of radiated light or light which returns by being reflected from an object to be measured such as an eyeball, by simplifying the optical system of a near infrared light microscope because the near infrared light radiation apparatus can be arranged on the edge of an object lens in close proximity to the eyeball.

Description

Beam irradiation apparatus using near infrared light source {Apparatus to provide beam by using near infrared light source}

Disclosed is a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source. More specifically, near-infrared light, which can be placed at the edge of an objective lens close to the measurement object, for example, the eye, can simplify the optical system of the near-infrared microscope, and reduce the loss of light reflected back from the irradiated light or the eye. Disclosed is a beam irradiation apparatus using a light source.

Generally, in order to inject a light source into an ophthalmic microscope, there are a method of disposing a beam splitter between both the relay lens and the eyepiece in the microscope and a mirror at the center of both relay lenses.

In general ophthalmic microscopes, the optical systems arranged for incidence of light sources increase the volume occupied spatially and cause optical loss. In addition, since the area of the light source beam to be irradiated is fixed, more than necessary light is focused to give fatigue to the eye and has a long recovery time after microscopic examination.

An object according to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to arrange a device for irradiating near-infrared light on the edge of the objective lens in close proximity to the measurement object, for example, the eye can simplify the optical system of the near-infrared microscope, the light or eye irradiated It is to provide a beam irradiation apparatus using a near-infrared light source, which can reduce the loss of light reflected back from the.

In addition, another object according to an embodiment of the present invention, the beam using a near-infrared light source, which can implement a near-infrared microscope that can adjust the irradiation angle of the beam inside the apparatus body to adjust the amount of light and the irradiation area according to the microscope magnification. It is to provide an irradiation device.

A beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to an embodiment of the present invention, a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source mounted adjacent to the objective lens of the microscope for obtaining the image information of the measurement object, the light source for generating light of the near infrared; A light splitter connected by the light source and the optical fiber and distributing the light into a plurality of lights; And a plurality of irradiation units receiving the light distributed from the light distributor and irradiating a beam of near infrared rays toward the measurement object, wherein the beams irradiated from the plurality of irradiation units to the measurement object are reflected from the measurement object. It can be directed to the objective lens, by this configuration, it is possible to arrange a device for irradiating near-infrared light at the edge of the objective lens close to the measurement object, for example, the eye can simplify the optical system of the near infrared microscope, It is possible to reduce the loss of light reflected back from the light or the eye.

According to one side, the plurality of irradiation unit is built in the circumferential direction, and further comprises a device body having a hollow cylindrical shape, the objective lens may be disposed adjacent to the upper portion of the hollow portion of the device body.

According to one side, the irradiation unit, collimator; And a beam irradiation lens for condensing the beam passing through the collimator, wherein the beam irradiation lens is mounted on an angle adjusting element to selectively adjust the angle.

According to one side, the light source is a superluminescent diode (SLD), light emitting diode (LED), laser diode (LD), semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), titanium sapphire laser (Ti: Saphire laser) may be a near-infrared light source of any one of a supercontinuum source.

According to one side, the optical splitter is a 1 × n optical splitter having one input and a plurality of outputs, the optical fiber based optical coupler, optical fiber based optical power splitter, flat optical waveguide optical coupler, flat optical waveguide power splitter, optical wavelength It may be an optical splitter of any one of the splitters.

According to one side, the beam irradiation apparatus may be a device applied to an eye near-infrared microscope for photographing the eye as the measurement object.

On the other hand, a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to an embodiment of the present invention, the beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source mounted adjacent to the objective lens of the microscope for obtaining the image information of the measurement object, the apparatus main body; And a plurality of irradiation units mounted on the apparatus main body to irradiate a beam of near infrared rays toward the measurement object, wherein the plurality of irradiation units may separately include a light source that provides a beam of near infrared rays. In addition, a device for irradiating near-infrared light at the edge of the objective lens close to the eye can be arranged to simplify the optical system of the near-infrared microscope, and to reduce the loss of light reflected from the irradiated light or the eye.

According to one side, the irradiation unit, a collimator for collimating the light generated from the light source; And a beam irradiation lens for focusing the beam passing through the collimator, and the beam irradiation lens may be mounted on an angle adjusting element and may be selectively adjusted.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a device for irradiating near-infrared light can be arranged on the edge of an objective lens close to a measurement object, for example, an eye, thereby simplifying an optical system of a near-infrared microscope, and reflecting from the irradiated light or eye. This can reduce the loss of light coming back.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to adjust the irradiation angle of the beam inside the device body can implement a near-infrared microscope that can adjust the amount of light and the irradiation area according to the microscope magnification.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it can be used in various ways as an apparatus for providing light not only in the ophthalmic near infrared microscope but also in an optical microscope using a different wavelength.

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1.
3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a beam generated by the beam irradiation apparatus of FIG. 1 is directed toward the center.
4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a beam generated by the beam irradiation apparatus of FIG. 1 is provided in parallel to an eyeball.
5 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a microscope to which the beam irradiation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG. 6.

Hereinafter, configurations and applications according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The following description is one of many aspects of the claimed invention and the following description forms part of a detailed description of the present invention.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail for the sake of clarity and conciseness.

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a side view of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a beam irradiation apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a beam generated by the beam is directed toward the center, and FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a beam generated by the beam irradiation apparatus of FIG. 1 is provided in parallel to the eyeball.

As shown in these figures, the beam irradiation apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the light source 110 for generating light of the near infrared wavelength and the near infrared light generated from the light source 110 to distribute The light splitter 130 and a plurality of irradiation unit 160 for irradiating light distributed from the light splitter 130 toward the eyeball 101 may be included.

Here, the apparatus body 150 in which the plurality of irradiation units 160 are spaced apart along the circumferential direction has a hollow cylindrical shape as a whole. The objective lens 210 provided in the microscope 200 (refer to FIG. 5) may be positioned immediately above the apparatus main body 150. By this configuration, the beam irradiated from the irradiation unit 160 toward the eyeball 101 may be located. (103, see FIG. 2) is reflected to the eyeball 101 at this time the beam reflected back to the eyeball 101 can reach the objective lens via the hollow portion 150S of the device body 150.

Referring to each configuration, first, the apparatus main body 150 of the present embodiment may be disposed at the position closest to the objective lens 210. Therefore, the volume of the microscope 200 to which the beam irradiation apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is applied can be reduced because it is not necessary to provide a space for arranging a separate optical system.

On the other hand, the beam irradiation apparatus 100 using the near-infrared light source of this embodiment includes one light source 110, and the light generated from the light source 110 is distributed through the light splitter 130 so that the plurality of irradiation portions ( 160).

The light source 110 of the present embodiment includes a superluminescent diode (SLD), a light emitting diode (LED), a laser diode (LD), a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), and titanium. Various near-infrared light sources such as sapphire laser (Ti), supercontinuum source, and the like may be used. However, the type of the light source 110 is not limited thereto.

The light source 110 and the light splitter 130 may be connected by the optical fiber 120 so that the light of the near infrared rays generated from the light source 110 may be provided to the light splitter 130 through the optical fiber 120. The light splitter 130 of the present embodiment may be applied with a 1 × n light splitter having one input and a plurality of outputs.

In addition, as the optical splitter 130 of the present embodiment, various optical splitters such as an optical fiber based optical coupler, an optical fiber based optical power splitter, a flat optical waveguide optical coupler, a flat optical waveguide power splitter, and an optical wavelength splitter may be applied. However, the type of the light splitter 130 is not limited thereto.

On the other hand, since the optical splitter 130 of the present embodiment is based on an optical fiber or a flat optical waveguide, the optical splitter 130 may be provided in a small size, and thus the alignment may be changed according to an impact like a general optical system.

Accordingly, the plurality of irradiation units 160 of the present exemplary embodiment may include a collimator 161 and a beam irradiation lens 163. Here, the beam irradiation lens 163 may be coupled to the angle adjusting element 165 to adjust the angle of the beam irradiation lens 163, thereby selectively adjusting the angle of the beam with respect to the eyeball 101 as necessary. I can regulate it.

In other words, the angle adjusting element 165 may be used to angle the beam irradiation lens 163 in the direction of the center of the objective lens 210 or in the orthogonal direction of the eyeball 101 to be measured.

Here, when the beam irradiation lens 163 is aligned around the objective lens 210, as shown in FIG. 3, the beam 103 is irradiated to a narrower area S1 and the same amount of light is irradiated to a narrower area. Therefore, higher light quantity can be irradiated.

On the other hand, when the beam irradiation lens 163 is aligned in the direction orthogonal to the eyeball 101, as shown in FIG. 4, the beam 103 is irradiated to a larger area S2 and the same amount of light is wider. Since the area is irradiated, a lower amount of light can be irradiated.

In general, when a high magnification is photographed using the microscope 200, a high light quantity must be irradiated to a narrow area so that a clear microscope image can be taken, so that the beam can be irradiated to the center of the objective lens 210 using the angle adjusting element 165. The beam irradiation lens 163 is adjusted so as to be adjusted. On the contrary, a beam irradiation lens to irradiate a beam in a direction orthogonal to the eyeball 101 by using the angle adjusting element 165 so that a bright microscope image can be obtained by dispersing light in a large area when capturing a low magnification. 165) can be adjusted.

As described above, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the beam irradiation apparatus 100 of the present exemplary embodiment may be disposed at the edge of the objective lens 210 proximate to the eyeball 101 so that the near infrared microscope 200 may be disposed. It is possible to simplify the optical system of the, there is an advantage that can reduce the loss of light reflected back from the irradiated light or eyeball (101).

In addition, the angle of the beam irradiation lens 163 can be adjusted by the angle adjusting element 165 inside the apparatus main body 150 to adjust the irradiation angle of the beam, and thus the amount of light and the irradiation area corresponding to the microscope magnification. There is an advantage to implement a near-infrared microscope that can be adjusted.

Meanwhile, as described above, the beam irradiation apparatus 100 of the above-described embodiment may be applied to the near-infrared microscope 200 for acquiring image information of the eyeball 101.

5 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a microscope to which the beam irradiation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

As shown therein, the objective lens 210 closest to the eyeball 101 and the beam irradiation apparatus 100 of the present embodiment are attached to the microscope 200.

By this configuration, the beam 103 irradiated from the beam irradiation apparatus 100 is reflected back from the surface of the eyeball 101, and the reflected beam 103a is guided to the objective lens 210 at this time. The reflected near-infrared beam 103a is focused through the relay lenses 211 and 212 and the eyepiece 213 and reaches the CCD camera 220 to obtain image information. In addition, image information acquired by the CCD camera 200 may be confirmed through a display (not shown).

In the following description, a beam irradiation apparatus using a near-infrared light source according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described, but a description thereof will be omitted for parts substantially the same as the beam irradiation apparatus of the above-described embodiment.

6 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source according to another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 is a side view of FIG.

As shown in these figures, the beam irradiation apparatus 300 of this embodiment has a configuration similar to that of the beam irradiation apparatus 100 (refer to FIG. 1) of the above-described embodiment in that the beam irradiation apparatus 300 is disposed adjacent to the objective lens 410. There is a difference in the light source 310.

In the present embodiment, the light source 310 for generating the light of the near infrared ray may be provided in each of the irradiator 360 provided with a corresponding number of the plurality of irradiator 360. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, each irradiation unit 360 may include a light source 310, a collimator 361, and a beam irradiation lens 363 coupled to the angle adjusting element 365. Accordingly, the beam irradiation direction and the amount of light can be selectively adjusted.

In the above-described embodiments, the case where the beam irradiation apparatus is applied to an ophthalmic microscope has been described above, but is not limited thereto, and it is obvious that the beam irradiation apparatus may be applied to an optical microscope using a different wavelength.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, such modifications or variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

100: beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source
101: eyeball
110: Light source
120: optical fiber
130: optical splitter
150: device body
160: research unit
161: collimator
163: lens for beam irradiation
165: angle adjusting element
200: microscope
210: objective lens

Claims (8)

A beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source mounted adjacent to an objective lens of a microscope for obtaining image information of a measurement object,
A light source for generating light of near infrared rays;
A light splitter connected by the light source and the optical fiber and distributing the light into a plurality of lights; And
A plurality of irradiation units receiving the light distributed from the light splitter and irradiating a beam of near infrared rays toward the measurement object,
And a beam irradiated from the plurality of radiators to the measurement object to be reflected from the measurement object to the objective lens.
The method of claim 1,
The plurality of irradiation unit is built in the circumferential direction, further comprises a device body having a hollow cylindrical shape,
And an objective lens adjacent to an upper portion of a hollow portion of the apparatus body.
3. The method of claim 2,
The irradiation unit,
Collimator; And
It includes a beam irradiation lens for condensing the beam passing through the collimator,
The beam irradiation lens is mounted on the angle adjusting element is selectively adjustable beam irradiation device.
The method of claim 1,
The light source may be a superluminescent diode (SLD), a light emitting diode (LED), a laser diode (LD), a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), a titanium sapphire laser (Ti: Saphire). A beam irradiation apparatus which is a near-infrared light source of any one of a laser) and a supercontinuum source.
The method of claim 1,
The optical splitter is a 1 × n optical splitter having one input and a plurality of outputs, and is any one of an optical fiber based optical coupler, an optical fiber based optical power splitter, a flat optical waveguide optical coupler, a flat optical waveguide power splitter, and an optical wavelength splitter. A beam irradiation device that is a light splitter.
The method of claim 1,
The beam irradiation apparatus is a beam irradiation apparatus which is a device applied to an eye near-infrared microscope for photographing the eye as the measurement object.
A beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source mounted adjacent to an objective lens of a microscope for obtaining image information of a measurement object,
A device body; And
It is mounted to the device body includes a plurality of irradiation unit for irradiating a near-infrared beam toward the measurement object,
The plurality of irradiation units, the beam irradiation apparatus using a near infrared light source, which is provided separately with a light source for providing a beam of near infrared rays.
The method of claim 7, wherein
The irradiation unit,
A collimator for collimating light generated from the light source; And
It includes a beam irradiation lens for condensing the beam passing through the collimator,
The beam irradiation lens is mounted on the angle adjusting element is selectively adjustable beam irradiation device.

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