US20170176732A1 - Image-forming optical system, illumination apparatus, and observation apparatus - Google Patents

Image-forming optical system, illumination apparatus, and observation apparatus Download PDF

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US20170176732A1
US20170176732A1 US15/448,738 US201715448738A US2017176732A1 US 20170176732 A1 US20170176732 A1 US 20170176732A1 US 201715448738 A US201715448738 A US 201715448738A US 2017176732 A1 US2017176732 A1 US 2017176732A1
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image
phase
wavefront
optical system
forming
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US15/448,738
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Hiroya Fukuyama
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Olympus Corp
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Olympus Corp
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/002—Scanning microscopes
    • G02B21/0024—Confocal scanning microscopes (CSOMs) or confocal "macroscopes"; Accessories which are not restricted to use with CSOMs, e.g. sample holders
    • G02B21/0052—Optical details of the image generation
    • G02B21/006—Optical details of the image generation focusing arrangements; selection of the plane to be imaged
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/06—Means for illuminating specimens
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/0005—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below having F-Theta characteristic
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/001—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras
    • G02B13/0015—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras characterised by the lens design
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B13/00—Optical objectives specially designed for the purposes specified below
    • G02B13/001—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras
    • G02B13/009—Miniaturised objectives for electronic devices, e.g. portable telephones, webcams, PDAs, small digital cameras having zoom function
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/002—Scanning microscopes
    • G02B21/0024—Confocal scanning microscopes (CSOMs) or confocal "macroscopes"; Accessories which are not restricted to use with CSOMs, e.g. sample holders
    • G02B21/0032—Optical details of illumination, e.g. light-sources, pinholes, beam splitters, slits, fibers
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/002—Scanning microscopes
    • G02B21/0024—Confocal scanning microscopes (CSOMs) or confocal "macroscopes"; Accessories which are not restricted to use with CSOMs, e.g. sample holders
    • G02B21/0036—Scanning details, e.g. scanning stages
    • G02B21/0048—Scanning details, e.g. scanning stages scanning mirrors, e.g. rotating or galvanomirrors, MEMS mirrors
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/002—Scanning microscopes
    • G02B21/0024—Confocal scanning microscopes (CSOMs) or confocal "macroscopes"; Accessories which are not restricted to use with CSOMs, e.g. sample holders
    • G02B21/0052—Optical details of the image generation
    • G02B21/0076—Optical details of the image generation arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/0004—Microscopes specially adapted for specific applications
    • G02B21/0092—Polarisation microscopes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/24—Base structure
    • G02B21/241—Devices for focusing
    • G02B21/244—Devices for focusing using image analysis techniques
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B23/00—Telescopes, e.g. binoculars; Periscopes; Instruments for viewing the inside of hollow bodies; Viewfinders; Optical aiming or sighting devices
    • G02B23/12—Telescopes, e.g. binoculars; Periscopes; Instruments for viewing the inside of hollow bodies; Viewfinders; Optical aiming or sighting devices with means for image conversion or intensification
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B23/00—Telescopes, e.g. binoculars; Periscopes; Instruments for viewing the inside of hollow bodies; Viewfinders; Optical aiming or sighting devices
    • G02B23/24—Instruments or systems for viewing the inside of hollow bodies, e.g. fibrescopes
    • G02B23/2407—Optical details
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B27/00—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00
    • G02B27/0025—Optical systems or apparatus not provided for by any of the groups G02B1/00 - G02B26/00, G02B30/00 for optical correction, e.g. distorsion, aberration

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an image-forming optical system, an illumination apparatus, and an observation apparatus.
  • a first aspect of the present invention is an image-forming optical system including: a plurality of image-forming lenses that form a final image and at least one intermediate image; and a first phase modulator and a second phase modulator that are disposed at positions having any of the intermediate images formed by the plurality of image-forming lenses therebetween and that apply phase modulation to the wavefront of light coming from an object.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator have the same phase distribution including a wave-shaped phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region that are symmetrical to each other, and are paired such that light passes through the corresponding phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region having opposite wave shapes.
  • a second aspect of the present invention is an illumination apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; and a light source that is disposed on the object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system.
  • a third aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; and a photo-detector that is disposed on the final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation object.
  • a forth aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; a light source that is disposed on the object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system; and a photo-detector that is disposed on the final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation object.
  • a fifth aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: the above-described illumination apparatus; and a photo-detector that detects light emitted from an observation object illuminated with the illumination apparatus.
  • the light source is a pulsed-laser light source.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of an image-forming optical system used in a microscope apparatus of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the image-forming optical system in FIG. 1 .
  • FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a wavefront disturbing device and a wavefront restoring device in FIG. 2 .
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic view for explaining the operation of the image-forming optical system in FIG. 1 .
  • FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing portions between an object-side pupil position and a wavefront restoring device in FIG. 2 .
  • FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing an image-forming optical system used in a conventional microscope apparatus.
  • FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing an example of a wavefront disturbing device and a wavefront restoring device that constitute an image-forming optical system according to a first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device of the image-forming optical system in FIG. 7 .
  • FIG. 9A is an enlarged view showing an example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to the first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 9B is an enlarged view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to the first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 9C is an enlarged view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to the first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 9D is an enlarged view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to the first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 9E is an enlarged view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to the first modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 10 is a bird's-eye view showing an example of a wavefront disturbing device and a wavefront restoring device that constitute an image-forming optical system according to a second modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 11 is a bird's-eye view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to a second modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 12 is a bird's-eye view showing another example of the wavefront disturbing device and the wavefront restoring device that constitute the image-forming optical system according to a second modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 13 is an enlarged view showing an example of a wavefront disturbing device and a wavefront restoring device that constitute an image-forming optical system according to a third modification of an embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing an observation apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing an observation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 16 is a schematic view showing an observation apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing a modification of the observation apparatus in FIG. 16 .
  • FIG. 18 is a schematic view showing a first modification of the observation apparatus in FIG. 17 .
  • FIG. 19 is a schematic view showing a further modification of the observation apparatus in FIG. 18 .
  • FIG. 20 is a schematic view showing a second modification of the observation apparatus in FIG. 17 .
  • FIG. 21 is a schematic view showing a third modification of the observation apparatus in FIG. 17 .
  • FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing cylindrical lenses as examples of phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 23 is a schematic view for explaining the effects of employing the cylindrical lenses.
  • FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the phase modulation level and the optical power based on the Gaussian optics used for explaining FIG. 23 .
  • FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing binary diffraction gratings as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus of the present invention.
  • FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing one-dimensional sine-wave diffraction gratings as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing free-curved surface lenses as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 28 is a longitudinal sectional view showing conical lenses as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing concentric binary diffraction gratings as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 30 is a schematic view for explaining the effects of a ray traveling along the optical axis when the diffraction gratings are used as the phase modulators.
  • FIG. 31 is a schematic view for explaining the effects of on-axis rays when the diffraction gratings are used as the phase modulators.
  • FIG. 32 is a diagram showing details of a center portion for explaining the effects of a diffraction grating that serves as a wavefront disturbing device.
  • FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the details of the center portion for explaining the effects of a diffraction grating that serves as a wavefront restoring device.
  • FIG. 34 is a longitudinal sectional view showing spherical aberration devices as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 35 is a longitudinal sectional view showing irregular-shaped devices as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 36 is a schematic view showing reflecting-type phase modulators as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus of the present invention.
  • FIG. 37 is a schematic view showing gradient-index devices as other examples of the phase modulators used in the image-forming optical system and the observation apparatus in a reference embodiment of the invention, serving as a reference example of the present invention.
  • FIG. 38 is a diagram showing an example lens array for the case in which the image-forming optical system of the present invention is applied to a microscope magnification observation apparatus that is used for endoscopy.
  • FIG. 39 is a diagram showing an example lens array for the case in which the image-forming optical system of the present invention is applied to a microscope provided with an endoscope-type small-diameter objective lens including an inner focusing function.
  • the image-forming optical system 1 is provided with two image-forming lenses 2 and 3 that are disposed as one set with a space therebetween; a field lens 4 that is disposed at an intermediate-image-forming plane between the image-forming lenses 2 and 3 ; a wavefront disturbing device (first phase modulator) 5 that is disposed in the vicinity of a pupil position PP O of the image-forming lens 2 at the object O side; and a wavefront restoring device (second phase modulator) 6 that is disposed in the vicinity of a pupil position PP T of the image-forming lens 3 at the image I side.
  • Reference sign 7 in the figure indicates an aperture stop.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 are formed in the same shape. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 , the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 have the same phase distribution including wave-shaped phase-advancing regions (recessed portions) 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions (projecting portions) 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other.
  • the rectangular-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b are formed rotationally symmetrical to each other with respect to an average plane H, and a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region 5 a and the phase-delaying region 5 b and a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region 6 a and the phase-delaying region 6 b , each pair forming one period, are arranged periodically.
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 is reversed and disposed such that the phase-advancing regions 5 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b of the wavefront disturbing device 5 face the phase-delaying regions 6 b and the phase-advancing regions 6 a of the wavefront restoring device 6 .
  • the surfaces of the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 having the phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b will be referred to as recess-and-projection surfaces, and the planar surfaces on the reverse sides of the recess-and-projection surfaces will be referred to as flat surfaces.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 are paired such that the light entering from the object O side is transmitted through the wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that correspond to each other and have opposite wave shapes.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 are disposed such that their positions are shifted from each other by half a period in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis.
  • the light coming from the object O side and transmitted through the phase-advancing regions 5 a of the wavefront disturbing device 5 is transmitted through and exits from the phase-delaying regions 6 b of the wavefront restoring device 6
  • the light coming from the object O side and transmitted through the phase-delaying regions 5 b of the wavefront disturbing device 5 is transmitted through and exits from the phase-advancing regions 6 a of the wavefront restoring device 6 .
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may be disposed either such that their recess-and-projection surfaces face the field lens 4 , as shown in FIG. 2 , or such that their flat surfaces face the field lens 4 . Furthermore, the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may be disposed such that their recess-and-projection surfaces face the object O side or, conversely, such that their recess-and-projection surfaces face the image I side.
  • the former two namely, the arrangement in which both of the recess-and-projection surfaces of the elements face the field lens 4 and the arrangement in which both of the flat surfaces of the elements face the field lens 4 , are more preferable than the latter two, from the standpoint of the wave-recovery precision.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 disposed in this manner can apply mutually complementary phase modulations to the wavefront of the light by means of the surface shape of the optical medium.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 is configured so as to disturb the wavefront when light that is emitted from an object O and that is focused by the image-forming lens 2 at the object O side passes therethrough. By disturbing the wavefront by means of the wavefront disturbing device 5 , an intermediate image formed at the field lens 4 is made unsharp.
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 is configured so as to apply a phase modulation to the wave of light in such a way that the wavefront disturbance applied by the wavefront disturbing device 5 is cancelled out when light focused by the field lens 4 passes therethrough.
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 possesses opposite phase properties relative to those of the wavefront disturbing device 5 , so that a sharp final image I is formed by canceling out the wavefront disturbance.
  • the image-forming optical system 1 is telecentric on the object 0 side and the image I side.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 is disposed at a position away from the field lens 4 by a distance a F toward the object O
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 is disposed at a position away from the field lens 4 by a distance b F toward the image I.
  • reference sign f O indicates the focal length of the image-forming lens 2
  • reference sign f T indicates the focal length of the image-forming lens 3
  • reference signs F O and F O ′ indicate focal positions of the image-forming lens 2
  • reference signs F T and F T ′ indicate the focal positions of the image-forming lens 3
  • reference signs II O , II A , and II B indicate intermediate images.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 need not necessarily be disposed in the vicinity of the pupil position PP O of the image-forming lens 2
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 need not necessarily be disposed in the vicinity of the pupil position PP T of the image-forming lens 3 .
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 must be disposed so as to have a mutually conjugate positional relationship, as indicated by Expression (1).
  • f F is the focal length of the field lens 4 .
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram showing, in detail, the portion between the pupil position PP O on the object O side and the wavefront restoring device 6 in FIG. 4 .
  • ⁇ L is a phase advance achieved, with reference to a ray that passes through a specific position (that is, a ray height), when light passes through an optical element.
  • ⁇ F is a lateral magnification of the field lens 4 when the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 are in a conjugate relationship, which is expressed in Expression (3) below.
  • a single ray R enters such an image-forming optical system 1 and passes through a position x O in the wavefront disturbing device 5 , at that point, the ray is subjected to a phase modulation based on the function ⁇ L O (x O ), and a disturbed ray Rc is generated due to refraction, diffraction, scattering, or the like.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 are in a conjugate positional relationship and also possess the properties according to Expression (2)
  • the ray that has been subjected to phase modulation by passing through a position in the wavefront disturbing device 5 passes through, without exception, a specific position in the wavefront restoring device 6 , which is in one-to-one correspondence with the above-described position and at which the phase modulation that cancels out the phase modulation applied by the wavefront disturbing device 5 is applied.
  • the above-described effects are exerted on the ray R regardless of the incident position x O and the incident angle of the ray R in the wavefront disturbing device 5 .
  • the absolute value of the horizontal magnification ⁇ F needs to be 1.
  • FIG. 6 shows a conventional image-forming optical system.
  • this image-forming optical system light focused by the image-forming lens 2 at the object O side forms a sharp intermediate image II at the field lens 4 disposed at the intermediate-image-forming plane, and is subsequently focused by the image-forming lens 3 at the image I side, thus forming a sharp final image I.
  • phase advance has been assumed to be a one-dimensional function, similar effects may also be achieved by employing a two-dimensional function instead.
  • spaces between the image-forming lens 2 , the wavefront disturbing device 5 , and the field lens 4 and spaces between the field lens 4 , the wavefront restoring device 6 , and the image-forming lens 3 need not necessarily be provided, and these devices may be optically coupled.
  • the individual lenses that form the image-forming optical system 1 namely, the image-forming lenses 2 and 3 and the field lens 4
  • the individual lenses that form the image-forming optical system 1 are configured such that the image forming function and the pupil relay function are clearly divided therebetween; however, in an actual image-forming optical system, a configuration in which a single lens concurrently performs both the image forming function and the pupil relay function may also be employed.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 can disturb the wavefront to make the intermediate image II unsharp
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 can make the final image I sharp by canceling out the wavefront disturbance.
  • This embodiment can be modified as follows.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 have a phase distribution including rectangular-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may have a phase distribution including trapezoidal-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other. In this case, as shown in FIG.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may be disposed such that they face each other and such that their positions are shifted from each other by half a period in the direction perpendicular to the optical axis, so that the light coming from the object O side and transmitted through the phase-advancing regions 5 a of the wavefront disturbing device 5 is transmitted through and exits from the phase-delaying regions 6 b of the wavefront restoring device 6 , and so that the light coming from the object side and transmitted through the phase-delaying regions 5 b of the wavefront disturbing device 5 is transmitted through and exits from the phase-advancing regions 6 a of the wavefront restoring device 6 .
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may have phase distributions including phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b having wave shapes as shown in FIG. 9A to FIG. 9E .
  • the wave shapes of the phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b may be symmetrical triangular-wave shapes, as shown in FIG. 9A , symmetrical sinusoidal-wave shapes, as shown in FIG. 9B , symmetrical deformed-wave shapes, as shown in FIG. 9C and FIG. 9D , or symmetrical sawtooth-wave shapes, as shown in FIG. 9E .
  • phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b in FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9D, and 9E are formed rotationally symmetrical to each other with respect to the average plane H, similarly to the phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b shown in FIG. 3 .
  • the phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b in FIG. 9C are formed symmetrical to each other with respect to the average plane H, such that their positions are shifted from each other by half a period.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 have one-dimensional phase distribution characteristics
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may have two-dimensional phase distribution characteristics.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 may have a phase distribution in which rectangular-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other are disposed in a checkered pattern.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 trapezoidal-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other may be disposed in a checkered pattern.
  • FIG. 11 in the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 , trapezoidal-wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other may be disposed in a checkered pattern.
  • triangular-wave-shaped, i.e., pyramid-shaped, phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are symmetrical to each other may be disposed in a checkered pattern.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 that apply phase modulation to the wavefront of light by means of the surface shape of the optical medium have been described as examples of the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply phase modulation to the wavefront of light by means of the interface shapes of a plurality of optical media.
  • FIG. 13 shows, as an example, a wavefront disturbing device 5 ′ and a wavefront restoring device 6 ′ each formed of an optical medium n A and an optical medium n B having different refractive indices.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 ′ and the wavefront restoring device 6 ′ have the same phase distribution including wave-shaped phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b that are defined by the shapes of the interface between the optical medium n A and the optical medium n B and are symmetrical to each other.
  • the phase-advancing regions 5 a and 6 a and the phase-delaying regions 5 b and 6 b are formed rotationally symmetrical to each other with respect to the average plane H.
  • phase modulators This makes it possible to apply more precise phase modulation to the wavefront of light than in the case where a single optical medium having the same shape accuracy is used as the phase modulators. Furthermore, because the shape accuracy of the optical media required to achieve the same phase-modulation precision is lower than that in the case where a single optical medium is used as the phase modulators, it is possible to manufacture the phase modulators at even lower cost.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 and the wavefront restoring device 6 having a phase-modulation distribution in which a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region 5 a and the phase-delaying region 5 b and a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region 6 a and the phase-delaying region 6 b, respectively, are periodically disposed have been described as examples of the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator, in a fourth modification, a phase-modulation distribution including one pair of the phase-advancing region 5 a and the phase-delaying region 5 b and one pair of the phase-advancing region 6 a and the phase-delaying region 6 b is also possible.
  • the observation apparatus 10 is provided with a light source 11 that generates non-coherent illumination light; an illumination optical system 12 that irradiates an observation subject A with the illumination light coming from the light source 11 ; an image-forming optical system 13 that focuses light coming from the observation subject A; and an image-acquisition device (photo-detector) 14 that captures the light focused by the image-forming optical system 13 and acquires an image thereof.
  • a light source 11 that generates non-coherent illumination light
  • an illumination optical system 12 that irradiates an observation subject A with the illumination light coming from the light source 11
  • an image-forming optical system 13 that focuses light coming from the observation subject A
  • an image-acquisition device (photo-detector) 14 that captures the light focused by the image-forming optical system 13 and acquires an image thereof.
  • the illumination optical system 12 is provided with focusing lenses 15 a and 15 b that focus the illumination light coming from the light source 11 and an objective lens 16 that irradiates the observation subject A with the illumination light focused by the focusing lenses 15 a and 15 b.
  • this illumination optical system 12 is a so-called Koehler illumination optical system, and the focusing lenses 15 a and 15 b are disposed so that a light emission surface of the light source 11 and a pupil plane of the objective lens 16 are conjugate with each other.
  • the image-forming optical system 13 is provided with the above-described objective lens (image-forming lens) 16 that is disposed on the object side and that collects observation light (for example, reflected light) emitted from the observation subject A; a wavefront disturbing device (first phase modulator) 17 that disturbs the wavefront of the observation light collected by the objective lens 16 ; a first beam splitter 18 that splits off the light whose wavefront has been disturbed from the illumination optical path from the light source 11 ; a first intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 19 having lenses that are that are disposed so as to have a space therebetween in the optical-axis direction; a second beam splitter 20 that deflects, by 90i, the light that has passed through individual lenses 19 a and 19 b of the first intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 19 ; a second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 that forms an intermediate image by focusing the light that has been deflected by the second beam splitter 20 ; an optical-path-length varying means 22 that is disposed
  • the image-acquisition device 14 is, for example, a two-dimensional image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS, is provided with an image-acquisition surface 14 a disposed at a position at which a final image is formed by the image-forming lens 24 .
  • the image-acquisition device 14 is configured so that a two-dimensional image of the observation subject A can be acquired by capturing the incident light.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 17 is disposed in the vicinity of the pupil position of the objective lens 16 .
  • the wavefront disturbing device 17 is formed of an optically transparent material that allows light to pass therethrough, and is configured so that, when light passes therethrough, a phase modulation is applied to the wavefront of the light in accordance with depressions and protrusions on the surface of the optically transparent material.
  • the wavefront restoring device 23 is also formed of an optically transparent material that allows light to pass therethrough, and is configured so as that, when light passes therethrough, a phase modulation is applied to the wavefront of the light in accordance with depressions and protrusions on the surface of the optically transparent material.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 17 and the wavefront restoring device 23 have the same phase distribution including a wave-shaped phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region that are symmetrical to each other, and are paired such that through the corresponding phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region having opposite wave shapes.
  • the disturbance applied can be cancelled out.
  • the wavefront disturbing element 17 applies the necessary wavefront disturbance by allowing the observation light from the observation object A to be transmitted therethrough. Furthermore, by making the observation light reflected by the optical-path-length varying means 22 so as to be folded back pass therethrough twice while the light travels in a reciprocating manner, the wavefront restoring device 23 is configured so as to apply, to the wavefront of the light, the phase modulation that cancels out the wavefront disturbance applied by the wavefront disturbing device 17 .
  • the optical-path-length varying means 22 serving as an optical-axis (Z-axis) scanning system, includes a flat mirror 22 a that is disposed perpendicularly to the optical axis and an actuator 22 b that displaces the flat mirror 22 a in the optical-axis direction.
  • the flat mirror 22 a is displaced in the optical-axis direction by actuating the actuator 22 b of the optical-path-length varying means 22 , the optical-path length between the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 and the flat mirror 22 a is changed, and, by doing so, the position in the observation subject A that is conjugate with the image-acquisition surface 14 a, that is, the front focal-point position of the objective lens 16 , is changed in the optical-axis direction.
  • the illumination light coming from the light source 11 is radiated onto the observation subject A by means of the illumination optical system 12 .
  • the observation light emitted from the observation subject A is collected by the objective lens 16 , passes through the first beam splitter 18 and the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 19 , and is deflected by 90e by the second beam splitter 20 .
  • the observation light is reflected, so as to be folded back, by the flat mirror 22 a of the optical-path-length varying means 22 via the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 , and is transmitted through the wavefront restoring device 23 via the beam splitter 20 and the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 24 .
  • the final image formed by the image-forming lens 25 is acquired by means of the image-acquisition device 14 .
  • the optical path length between the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 and the flat mirror 22 a can be changed.
  • the front focal-point position of the objective lens 16 can be moved and scanned in the optical-axis direction.
  • an intermediate image is formed by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 in the vicinity of the flat mirror 22 a of the optical-path-length varying means 22 .
  • This intermediate image is unsharpened by the wavefront disturbance applied by passing through the wavefront disturbing device 17 .
  • the light that has formed the unsharp intermediate image is focused by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 and the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 24 and is, subsequently, made to pass through the wavefront restoring device 23 again, which completely cancels out the wavefront disturbance thereof.
  • the intermediate image formed by the first intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 19 also undergoes large changes in the optical-axis direction when the focal-point positions on the observation subject A are moved in the optical-axis direction, as a result of these changes, even if the intermediate image coincides with the position of the first intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 19 , or even in the case in which another optical element additionally exits in the area in which the changes occur, because the intermediate image has been made unsharp, it is possible to prevent the images of the foreign objects from being captured in the final image by being superimposed thereon.
  • an observation apparatus 30 includes: the illumination apparatus 28 having a laser light source 31 ; and an image-forming optical system 32 that focuses the laser beams coming from the laser light source 31 on the observation subject A and that also collects light coming from the observation subject A; an image-acquisition device (photo-detector) 33 that captures the light collected by the image-forming optical system 32 ; and a Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 that is disposed between the light source 31 , and the image-acquisition device 33 and image-forming optical system 32 .
  • the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 is provided with two disks 34 a and 34 b that are disposed parallel to each other with a space therebetween and an actuator 34 c that rotates the disks 34 a and 34 b at the same time.
  • Numerous microlenses (not shown) are arrayed on the disk 34 a on the laser light source 31 side, and the disk 34 b on the object side is provided with numerous pinholes (not shown) at positions that correspond to the individual microlenses.
  • a dichroic mirror 34 d that splits light that has passed through the pinholes is secured in the space between the two disks 34 a and 34 b. The light split off by the dichroic mirror 34 d is focused by the focusing lens 35 , a final image is formed on an image-acquisition surface 33 a of the image-acquisition device 33 , and thus, an image is acquired.
  • the optical path for irradiating the observation subject A with the light that has passed through the pinholes of the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 and the optical path through which the light generated at the observation subject A enters the pinholes of the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 are exactly the same.
  • the light emitted from the pinholes in the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 and entering the image-forming optical system 32 via the image-forming optical system 25 , the phase modulator 23 , and the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 24 is transmitted through the beam splitter 36 , is focused by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 , and is reflected, so as to turn around, by the flat mirror 22 a of the optical-path-length varying means 22 .
  • the light is deflected by 90 by the beam splitter 36 , is transmitted through the first intermediate-image-forming lens pair 19 and the phase modulator 17 , and is focused on the observation object A by the objective lens 16 .
  • the phase modulator 23 through which the laser beam passes twice first serves as a wavefront disturbing device that disturbs the wavefront of the laser beam, and the phase modulator 17 through which the laser beam subsequently passes once serves as a wavefront restoring device that applies the phase modulation that cancels out the wavefront disturbance applied by the phase modulator 23 .
  • an image of the light sources that are formed like numerous point sources of light by the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 is formed as an intermediate image on the flat mirror 22 a by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 , because the intermediate image formed by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 is made unsharp by passing through the phase modulator 23 once, it is possible to prevent a problem by the images of the foreign objects existing in the intermediate-image-forming plane are superimposed on the final image.
  • the light, e.g., fluorescence, generated at the position in the observation object A where the image of point light sources is formed is collected by the objective lens 16 and is transmitted through the phase modulator 17 and the first intermediate-image-forming lens pair 19 . Then, the light is deflected by 90 ediate-image-forming 16 o , is focused by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 , and is reflected, so as to turn around, by the flat mirror 22 a. Thereafter, the light is focused again by the second intermediate-image-forming lens 21 , is transmitted through the beam splitter 36 , is focused by the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 24 , and is transmitted through the phase modulator 23 . Then, the light is focused by the image-forming lens 25 and forms an image at the position of the pinholes in the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 .
  • the image-forming lens 25 forms an image at the position of the pinholes in the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34
  • phase modulator 17 through which the fluorescence generated at the observation subject in the form of numerous points passes serves as a wavefront disturbing device as in the first embodiment, and the phase modulator 23 serves as a wavefront restoring device.
  • the fluorescence whose wavefront has been disturbed by passing through the phase modulator 17 forms an unsharp intermediate image on the flat mirror 22 a.
  • the fluorescence whose wavefront disturbance has completely been cancelled out by passing through the phase modulator 23 forms an image at the pinholes of the Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system 34 .
  • the fluorescence after passing through the pinholes is split off by the dichroic mirror 34 d, is focused by the focusing lens 35 , and forms a sharp final image on the image-acquisition surface 33 a of the image-acquisition device 33 .
  • the observation apparatus there is an advantage in that, as an illumination apparatus that radiates laser beams onto the observation subject A and also as an observation apparatus with which fluorescence generated at the observation subject A is captured, it is possible to acquire a sharp final image while preventing images of foreign objects at an intermediate-image-forming plane from being superimposed on the final image by making the intermediate image unsharp.
  • this embodiment when the above-described scanning system is incorporated, no noise image is generated even if the light moves in the Z-axis direction in any of the optical elements disposed in the image-forming optical system.
  • the observation apparatus 40 is a laser-scanning confocal observation apparatus.
  • This observation apparatus 40 is provided with an illumination apparatus 38 having a laser light source 41 and an image-forming optical system 42 that focuses laser beams coming from the laser light source 41 on the observation subject A and that also collects light coming from the observation subject A; a confocal pinhole 43 that allows fluorescence collected by the image-forming optical system 42 to pass therethrough; and a photo-detector 44 that detects the fluorescence that has passed through the confocal pinhole 43 .
  • the image-forming optical system 42 is provided with a beam expander 45 that expands the beam diameter of a laser beam, a dichroic mirror 46 that deflects the laser beam and that allows fluorescence to pass therethrough, a galvanometer mirror 47 that is disposed in the vicinity of a position that is conjugate with the pupil of the objective lens 16 , and a third intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 48 , which are different components from those of the observation apparatus 30 according to the second embodiment. Furthermore, a phase modulator 23 that disturbs the wavefront of the laser beam is disposed in the vicinity of pupil position of the objective lens 16 .
  • reference sign 49 indicates a mirror.
  • the laser beam emitted from the laser light source 41 whose diameter is expanded by the beam expander 45 , is deflected by the dichroic mirror 46 , and is two-dimensionally scanned by the galvanometer mirror 47 , after which the laser beam passes through the phase modulator 23 and the third intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 48 , and enters the beam splitter 36 .
  • the processes after entering the beam splitter 36 are the same as those of the observation apparatus 30 according to the second embodiment.
  • the intermediate image is made unsharp, and thus, it is possible to prevent the images of foreign objects that exist in the intermediate-image-forming plane from being superimposed thereon.
  • the wavefront disturbance is cancelled out by the phase modulator 17 disposed at the pupil position of the objective lens 16 , it is possible to form a sharp final image at the observation subject A.
  • the image formation depth of the final image can be arbitrarily adjusted by the optical-path-length varying means 22 .
  • fluorescence generated at a position in the observation subject A at which the laser beam forms the final image is collected by the objective lens 16 and is transmitted through the phase modulator 17 .
  • the fluorescence travels along the optical path in the reverse route from that traveled by the laser beam, is deflected by the beam splitter 36 , passes through the third intermediate-image-forming-lens pair 48 , the phase modulator 23 , the galvanometer mirror 47 , and the dichroic mirror 46 , and is focused at a confocal pinhole 43 by the image-forming lens 24 . Then, only the fluorescence that has passed through the confocal pinhole 43 is detected by the photo-detector 44 .
  • the intermediate image is made unsharp, and thus, it is possible to prevent the images of foreign objects that exist in the intermediate-image-forming plane from being superimposed thereon.
  • the wavefront disturbance is cancelled out by passing through the phase modulator 23 , it is possible to form a sharp image at the confocal pinhole 43 , and it is possible to efficiently detect the fluorescence generated at the position in the observation subject A at which the laser beam forms the final image.
  • no noise image is generated even if the light moves in the Z-axis direction in any of the optical elements disposed in the image-forming optical system.
  • the present invention may be applied to a laser-scanning multi-photon-excitation observation apparatus, as shown in FIG. 17 .
  • an ultrashort pulsed laser light source may be employed as the laser light source 41 , the dichroic mirror 46 may be eliminated from the original position, and the dichroic mirror 46 may be employed instead of the mirror 49 .
  • an observation apparatus 50 in FIG. 17 it is possible to make the final image sharp by making the intermediate image unsharp by using its function as an illumination apparatus that radiates an ultrashort pulsed laser beam onto the observation subject A.
  • the fluorescence generated at the observation subject A the fluorescence is collected by the objective lens 16 , passes through the phase modulator 17 and the dichroic mirror 46 , is subsequently focused by the focusing lens 51 without forming an intermediate image, and is directly detected by the photo-detector 44 .
  • an observation apparatus 60 may be configured by employing, as the optical-path-length varying means, a unit that changes the optical-path length by moving a lens 61 a, which is one of lenses 61 a and 61 b that form an intermediate-image-forming optical system 61 , in the optical-axis direction by using the actuator 62 , as shown in FIG. 18 .
  • reference sign 63 indicates another intermediate-image-forming optical system.
  • the present invention may be configured such that another intermediate-image-forming optical system 80 is disposed between two galvanometer mirrors 47 that constitute a two-dimensional light scanner, and the two galvanometer mirrors 47 are precisely disposed in an optically conjugate positional relationship relative to the phase modulators 17 and 23 and an aperture stop 81 disposed at the pupil of the objective lens 16 .
  • a spatial light modulator (SLM) 64 such as a reflecting-type LCOS, may be employed as the optical-path-length varying means, as shown in FIG. 20 .
  • SLM spatial light modulator
  • reference sign 52 denotes an intermediate-image-forming lens pair that focuses laser light, whose beam diameter has been increased by the beam expander 45 , to form an intermediate image
  • reference signs 65 are mirrors.
  • the phase-modulating element 17 may be disposed between the beam splitter 36 and the objective lens 16
  • the phase-modulating element 23 may be disposed between the beam expander 45 and the intermediate-image-forming lens pair 52 .
  • a spatial light modulator 66 such as a transmitting-type LCOS may be employed, as shown in FIG. 21 . Because the mirror 65 can be eliminated, as compared with the case in which the reflecting-type LCOS is employed, the configuration can be simplified.
  • variable-power optical elements which are known as active optical elements, including, first of all, as ones that have mechanically movable portions, a variable-shape mirror (DFM: Deformable Mirror) and a variable-shape lens employing liquid or gel.
  • DFM Deformable Mirror
  • examples of similar devices that do not have mechanically movable portions include, among others, a liquid-crystal lens and a potassium tantalate niobate (KTN: KTa 1-x Nb x O 3 ) crystal lens that control the refractive index of a medium by means of an electric field, and, additionally, a lens in which a cylindrical-lens effect in an acoustic optical deflector (AOD/Acousto-Optical Deflector) is applied.
  • KTN potassium tantalate niobate
  • AOD/Acousto-Optical Deflector a lens in which a cylindrical-lens effect in an acoustic optical deflector
  • some means of moving the focal-point position in the observation subject A in the optical-axis direction is included in all cases. Furthermore, with these means of moving the focal-point position in the optical-axis direction, as compared with means employed in a conventional microscope designed for the same purpose (namely, to move either the objective lens 16 or the observation subject in the optical-axis direction), it is possible to considerably increase the operating speed because a low-mass object to be driven is used or a physical phenomenon whose response speed is high is utilized.
  • the spatial light modulators 64 and 66 such as a transmitting-type or a reflecting-type LCOS, it is possible to make the spatial light modulators 64 and 66 perform the function of the phase modulator 23 . By doing so, it is possible to omit the phase modulator 23 that serves as a wavefront disturbing device, and thus, there is an advantage in that it is possible to simplify the configuration.
  • phase modulator 23 is omitted in a combination of the spatial light modulator and a laser-scanning multi-photon-excitation observation apparatus
  • the reference embodiment of the invention serving as a reference example of the present invention
  • the mirror 49 can be employed instead of the beam splitter 36 , the dichroic mirror 46 can be employed between the beam expander 45 and the spatial light modulators 64 and 66 , thus forming a branch optical path; and, furthermore, given that the image-forming lens 24 , the confocal pinhole 43 , and the photo-detector 44 are employed, it is possible to make the spatial light modulators 64 and 66 perform the function of the phase modulator 23 .
  • the spatial light modulators 64 and 66 in this case serve as wavefront disturbing devices with respect to a laser beam coming from the laser light source 41 , disturbing the wavefront thereof, and, on the other hand, serve as wavefront restoring devices with respect to fluorescence coming from the observation subject A, canceling out the wavefront disturbance applied thereto by the phase modulator 17 .
  • cylindrical lenses 68 and 69 may be employed as phase modulators in the above-described reference embodiment, for example.
  • either a convex lens or a concave lens may be used as a wavefront disturbing device or may be used as a wavefront restoring device.
  • FIG. 23 shows an example in which the cylindrical lenses 5 and 6 are used as the phase modulators in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 .
  • a cylindrical lens having a power t Ox in the X-direction is used as the object-O-side phase modulator (wavefront disturbing device) 5 .
  • a cylindrical lens having a power t Ix in the X-direction is used as the image-I-side phase modulator (wavefront restoring device) 6 .
  • a position (ray height) of an on-axis ray R X on the X-Z plane in the cylindrical lens 5 is assumed to be x O .
  • a position (ray height) of an on-axis ray R X on the X-Z plane in the cylindrical lens 6 is assumed to be x I .
  • reference signs II 0X and II 0Y indicate intermediate images.
  • the optical-path length L(x) between the entrance-side tangential plane and the exit-side tangential plane extending along a ray at the height x is expressed by Expression (4) below.
  • optical power d phase advance is expressed by Expression (6) below, which the optical power
  • phase advance n Oc experienced by the on-axis ray R x on the X-Z plane in the cylindrical lens 5 relative to an on-axis principal ray, that is, a ray R A traveling along the optical axis, is expressed by Expression (9) below based on Expression (8).
  • L Oc (x O ) is a function of the optical-path length between the entrance-side tangential plane and the exit-side tangential plane, extending along a ray at the height x O in the cylindrical lens 5 .
  • L Ic (x I ) is a function of the optical-path length between the entrance-side tangential plane and the exit-side tangential plane, extending along a ray at the height x I in the cylindrical lens 6 .
  • the values of y Ox and a Tx have signs that are opposite from each other, and, also, that the ratio of their absolute values is proportional to the square of the lateral magnification of the field lens 4 .
  • the cylindrical lenses 5 and 6 also perform the functions of disturbing a wavefront and restoring a wavefront in a similar manner for an off-axis ray.
  • one-dimensional binary diffraction gratings may be employed as the phase modulators 5 , 6 , 17 , and 23 (shown as the phase modulators 5 and 6 in the drawing), instead of the cylindrical lenses.
  • one-dimensional sine-wave diffraction gratings as shown in FIG. 26
  • free-curved surface lenses as shown in FIG. 27
  • conical lenses as shown in FIG. 28
  • concentric binary diffraction gratings as shown in FIG. 29
  • the concentric-circle type diffraction gratings are not limited to a binary type, and any arbitrary configuration, such as a blazed type or a sinusoidal type, may be employed.
  • an intermediate image II in this case, a single point image is separated into a plurality of point images by diffraction. Due to this effect, the intermediate image II is made unsharp, and thus, it is possible to prevent images of foreign objects in the intermediate-image-forming plane from appearing in the final image by being superimposed thereon.
  • FIG. 30 For the case in which the diffraction gratings 5 and 6 are employed as phase modulators, an example of a preferable route for an on-axis principal ray, that is, the ray R A traveling along the optical axis, is shown in FIG. 30 , and, in addition, an example of a preferable route for the on-axis ray R X is shown in FIG. 31 .
  • the rays R A and R X are separated into a plurality of diffracted rays via the diffraction grating 5 , they are restored into a single ray, as was originally the case, by passing through the diffraction grating 6 .
  • FIG. 32 is a diagram showing details of the center portion of the diffraction grating 5
  • FIG. 33 is a diagram showing details of the center portion of the diffraction grating 6 .
  • a modulation period p I of the diffraction grating 6 must be equal to a modulation period p O of the diffraction grating 5 projected by the field lens 4 .
  • a modulation phase of the diffraction grating 6 must be reversed with respect to a modulation phase of the diffraction grating 5 projected by the field lens 4 ; and the magnitude of the phase modulation by the diffraction grating 5 and the magnitude of the phase modulation by the diffraction grating 6 must be equal to each other in terms of absolute values.
  • the diffraction grating 5 needs to be disposed so that one of the centers of protruding regions thereof is aligned with the optical axis and also the diffraction grating 6 needs to be disposed so that one of the centers of depressed regions thereof is aligned with the optical axis.
  • FIG. 32 and FIG. 33 show merely one example of such arrangements.
  • a phase advance ⁇ p Odt experienced by the on-axis ray R x that passes through one of the depressed regions of the diffraction grating 5 relative to the ray R A that travels along the optical axis (that passes through one of the protruding regions) is expressed by Expression (13) below.
  • the diffraction grating 5 performs the function of disturbing a wavefront
  • the diffraction grating 6 also performs the function of restoring a wavefront for an off-axis ray also.
  • cross-sectional shape of the diffraction gratings 5 and 6 is assumed to be trapezoidal in the above descriptions, it is needless to say that similar functions can also be performed with other shapes.
  • spherical aberration devices as shown in FIG. 34
  • irregular-shaped devices as shown in FIG. 35
  • a reflective wavefront modulating element combined with a transmissive spatial light modulator 64 as shown in FIG. 36
  • gradient-index devices as shown in FIG. 37
  • phase modulators 5 and 6 a fly-eye lens or a microlens array, in which numerous minute lenses are arrayed, or a microprism array, in which numerous minute prisms are arrayed, may be employed.
  • a phase disturbing device 5 needs to be disposed inside the objective lens (image-forming lens) 70
  • the wavefront restoring device 6 needs to be disposed in the vicinity of an ocular lens 73 that is positioned on the opposite side from the objective lens 70 with a relay optical system 72 that includes a plurality of field lenses 4 and focusing lenses 71 placed therebetween.
  • the wavefront disturbing device 5 may be provided in an endoscope-type small-diameter objective lens 74 including an inner focusing function, in which a lens 61 a is driven by an actuator 62 , and the wavefront restoring device 6 may be disposed in the vicinity of the pupil position of a tube lens (image-forming lens) 76 provided in a microscope main unit 75 .
  • the actuator itself may be a known lens driving means (for example, a piezoelectric element), it is important that the arrangement allows spatial modulation of the intermediate image from the standpoint of moving the intermediate image on the Z axis, similarly to the above-described embodiments.
  • phase modulators for the image-forming optical system of the present invention may have an aspect described below, and a person skilled in the art could consider the most appropriate embodiment, on the basis of the idea described below. According to the following aspect, because phase modulators for an image-forming optical system characterized by having a configuration for adjusting or increasing spatial disturbance and canceling out of the disturbance applied by the above-described (a pair of) phase modulators, it may be said that it is possible to develop the unique advantageous effect provided by the phase modulators of the present invention or to make it advantageous in practical use.
  • an image-forming optical system may be characterized in that the first phase modulator for unsharpening and the second phase modulator for recovery have such a shape that the modulation distribution in a region where the phase is advanced with respect to the average value of the phase-modulation distribution and the modulation distribution in a region where the phase is delayed with respect to the average value are symmetrical with respect to the average value, and in that a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region and the phase-delaying region are formed periodically.
  • phase modulators having the same shape and by appropriately arranging them in an optical system in this way, complementary phase modulations can be performed, that is, an intermediate image can be unsharpened with the first phase modulator and the final image can be sharpened with the second phase modulator, and hence, the intermediate-image problem can be solved.
  • phase modulator there is no need to prepare two different types of phase modulator, and only one type is sufficient. Hence, it is possible to manufacture the apparatus easily and to reduce the cost.
  • the first and the second phase modulators may perform phase modulation by means of the surface shape of an optical medium (for example, a shape in which shapes each composed of a recessed portion and a projecting portion are periodically arranged). This makes it possible to produce the necessary phase modulators by the same manufacturing method as typical phase filters. Furthermore, the first and the second phase modulators may perform phase modulation by means of the interface shapes of a plurality of optical media. This enables more precise phase modulation than those having the same optical medium shape accuracy. Alternatively, the phase modulators can be produced with lower optical-medium shape accuracy, in other words, at a lower cost, than those having the same phase modulation accuracy. Furthermore, the first and the second phase modulators may have one-dimensional phase distribution characteristics. This makes it possible to effectively unsharpen an intermediate image. Furthermore, the first and the second phase modulators may have two-dimensional phase distribution characteristics. This makes it possible to effectively unsharpen an intermediate image.
  • an optical medium for example, a shape in which shapes each composed of a recessed portion and a projecting portion are periodically
  • a first aspect of the present invention is an image-forming optical system including: a plurality of image-forming lenses that form a final image and at least one intermediate image; and a first phase modulator and a second phase modulator that are disposed at positions having any of the intermediate images formed by the plurality of image-forming lenses therebetween and that apply phase modulation to the wavefront of light coming from an object.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator have the same phase distribution including a wave-shaped phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region that are symmetrical to each other, and are paired such that light passes through the corresponding phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region having opposite wave shapes.
  • the light entering from the object side is focused by the image-forming lenses and forms the intermediate image and the final image. Furthermore, as a result of the light passes through the corresponding phase-advancing region and phase-delaying region having opposite wave shapes, in the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator, complementary phase modulations are applied to the wavefront.
  • the first phase modulator which is disposed on the object side of one of the intermediate images
  • spatial disturbance is applied to the wavefront of the light, and a blurred intermediate image is formed
  • the spatial disturbance of the wavefront applied by the first phase modulator is canceled out, and a sharp final image is formed.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may each include a plurality of pairs of the phase-advancing region and the phase-delaying region that are arranged periodically.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply phase modulation to the wavefront by means of the surface shape of the optical medium.
  • phase modulators can be produced by the same manufacturing method as typical phase filters, and thus, it is possible to further simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the cost.
  • the optical medium may be either, for example, a material having a uniform refractive index or a material having a symmetrically varying refractive index.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply phase modulation to the wavefront by means of the interface shapes of a plurality of optical media.
  • phase modulators it is possible to apply more precise phase modulation to the wavefront of light than that in the case where a single optical medium having the same shape accuracy is used. Furthermore, because the shape accuracy of the optical media required to achieve the same phase-modulation precision is lower than that in the case where a single optical medium is used, it is possible to manufacture the phase modulators at even lower cost.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may have one-dimensional phase distribution characteristics.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may have two-dimensional phase distribution characteristics.
  • a second aspect of the present invention is an illumination apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; and a light source that is disposed on the object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system.
  • the illumination light emitted from the light source disposed on the object side enter the image-forming optical system, it is possible to radiate the illumination light onto an observation object disposed on the final-image side.
  • the intermediate image formed by the image-forming optical system is blurred by the first phase modulator, it is possible to prevent a disadvantage in that any flaw, foreign matter, a defect, or the like existing on the surface of or inside an optical element overlaps the intermediate image and eventually forms a part of the final image, even when this optical element is disposed at the position of the intermediate image.
  • a third aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; and a photo-detector that is disposed on the final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation object.
  • a third aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: any of the above-described image-forming optical systems; a light source that is disposed on the object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system; and a photo-detector that is disposed on the final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation object.
  • a fourth aspect of the present invention is an observation apparatus including: the above-described illumination apparatus; and a photo-detector that detects light emitted from an observation object illuminated with the illumination apparatus.
  • the light source is a pulsed-laser light source.
  • An aspect of the invention serving as a reference example of the present invention, provides phase modulators for an image-forming optical system that includes: a plurality of image-forming lenses that form a final image and at least one intermediate image; a first phase modulator that is disposed on the object side of any of the intermediate images formed by the image-forming lenses and that applies spatial disturbance to the wavefront of light from the object; and a second phase modulator that is disposed at a position where at least one intermediate image is disposed between itself and the first phase modulator and that cancels out the spatial disturbance applied to the wavefront of the light from the object by the first phase modulator, and that is characterized by having a configuration for adjusting or increasing the spatial disturbance and the canceling of the disturbance applied by the phase modulators.
  • a “sharp image” is an image that is generated via an image-forming lens in a state in which a spatial disturbance is not applied to the wavefront of the light emitted from the object or in a state in which a disturbance that is applied once is cancelled out and eliminated, and refers to an image having a spatial frequency band determined by the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the image-forming lens, a spatial frequency band based thereon, or a desired spatial frequency band in accordance with the purpose.
  • an “unsharp image” is an image that is generated via an image-forming lens in a state in which a spatial disturbance is applied to the wavefront of the light emitted from the object, and refers to an image having properties such that a final image is formed so as to include practically no blemishes, foreign objects, defects or the like that exist on a surface of or inside an optical element disposed in the vicinity of that image.
  • an “unsharp image” (or an “unfocused image”) formed in this way differs from a simple out-of-focus image in that, including an image at a position at which the image was originally supposed to be formed (that is, a position at which the image would be formed if the spatial disturbance were not applied to the wavefront), an unsharp image does not have a clear peak of the image contrast over a large area in the optical-axis direction and that the spatial frequency band thereof is always narrower as compared with the spatial frequency band of a “sharp image”.
  • moving the intermediate image on the Z axis means to move the intermediate image in a unfocused state.
  • Z-axis scanning is not limited solely to the movement of light on the Z axis, but may involve the movement of light on the X and Y, as described below.
  • the light that has entered the image-forming lenses from the object side is focused by the image-forming lenses, thus forming the final image.
  • the first phase modulator which is disposed closer to the object than one of the intermediate images
  • a spatial disturbance is applied to the wavefront of the light, and thus, the intermediate image that is formed is made unclear.
  • the light that has formed the intermediate image passes through the second phase modulator, and thus, the spatial disturbance applied to the wavefront thereof by the first phase modulator is cancelled out.
  • the intermediate image moves on the Z axis while maintaining the above-described spatially modulated state, and thus, during the Z-axis scanning, the intermediate image in a blurred state passes through all the lenses in the image-forming optical system.
  • the intermediate image unclear, even if some optical element is disposed at the intermediate-image position, and blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like exist on the surface of or inside this optical element, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem whereby the blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like are superimposed on the intermediate image and are included as part of the finally formed final image. Furthermore, when the present invention is applied to a microscope optical system, even if the intermediate image moving on the Z axis by focusing or the like overlaps a lens located in front of or behind it, a noise image, in which a flaw or foreign matter on the surface of the lens or a defect or the like inside the lens appears in the final image, does not occur.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may be disposed in a vicinity of pupil positions of the image-forming lenses.
  • the sizes of the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator can be reduced by disposing them in the vicinity of the pupil positions where beams do not change.
  • the above-described aspect may be provided with an optical-path-length varying part that can vary an optical-path length between the two image-forming lenses disposed at positions that sandwich any one of the intermediate images.
  • the optical-path-length varying part may be provided with a flat mirror that is disposed perpendicularly to an optical axis and that reflects light that forms the intermediate images so as to fold back the light; an actuator that moves the flat mirror in an optical-axis direction; and a beam splitter that splits the light reflected by the flat mirror into light in two directions.
  • the light coming from the object side which is collected by the object-side image-forming lens, is reflected by the flat mirror to be folded back and is subsequently split by the beam splitter, thus being made to enter the image-side image-forming lens.
  • the flat mirror in the optical-axis direction by moving the flat mirror in the optical-axis direction by actuating the actuator, it is possible to easily change the optical-path length between the two image-forming lenses, and thus, it is possible to easily change the image-forming position of the final image in the optical-axis direction.
  • variable spatial phase modulator that is disposed in a vicinity of a pupil position of any one of the image-forming lenses, and that changes a position of the final image in the optical-axis direction by changing a spatial phase modulation to be applied to the wavefront of the light.
  • a function of at least one of the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may be performed by the variable spatial phase modulator.
  • variable spatial phase modulator bear the function of applying a spatial phase modulation that changes the final-image position in the optical-axis direction and a phase modulation that makes the intermediate image unclear or a phase modulation that cancels out the unclearness of the intermediate image.
  • a spatial phase modulation that changes the final-image position in the optical-axis direction and a phase modulation that makes the intermediate image unclear or a phase modulation that cancels out the unclearness of the intermediate image.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply, to a wavefront of a beam, phase modulations that change in a one-dimensional direction perpendicular to an optical axis.
  • the intermediate image unclear by applying, to the wavefront of the light, the phase modulation that changes in a one-dimensional direction perpendicular to the optical axis by using the first phase modulator, and, even if some optical element is disposed at the intermediate-image position and blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like exist on the surface of or inside this optical element, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem whereby the blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like are superimposed on the intermediate image and are included as part of the finally formed final image.
  • it is possible to form a sharp final image without blurriness by applying, to the wavefront of the light, the phase modulation that cancels out the phase modulation that has changed in the one-dimensional direction by using the second phase modulator.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply, to a wavefront of a beam, phase modulations that change in two-dimensional directions perpendicular to an optical axis.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may be transmitting-type devices that apply phase modulations to a wavefront of light when allowing the light to pass therethrough.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may be reflecting-type devices that apply phase modulations to a wavefront of light when reflecting the light.
  • first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may have complementary shapes.
  • the first phase modulator and the second phase modulator may apply phase modulations to a wavefront by using a refractive-index distribution of a transparent material.
  • an illumination apparatus including any one of the above-described image-forming optical systems and a light source that is disposed on an object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system.
  • the object to be illuminated, disposed on the final-image side can be illuminated by the illumination light.
  • the intermediate image formed by the image-forming optical system is made unclear by the first phase modulator, even if some optical element is disposed at the intermediate-image position and blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like exist on the surface of or inside this optical element, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem whereby the blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like are superimposed on the intermediate image and are included as part of the finally formed final image.
  • another aspect of the invention serving as a reference example of the present invention, provides an observation apparatus including any one of the above-described image-forming optical systems and a photo-detector that is disposed on a final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation subject.
  • the photo-detector may be disposed at a final-image position in the image-forming optical system and is an image-acquisition device that captures the final image.
  • another aspect of the invention serving as a reference example of the present invention, provides an observation apparatus including any one of the above-described image-forming optical systems; a light source that is disposed on an object side of the image-forming optical system and that generates illumination light to be made to enter the image-forming optical system; and a photo-detector that is disposed on a final-image side of the image-forming optical system and that detects light emitted from an observation subject.
  • the light coming from the light source is focused by the image-forming optical system and is radiated onto the observation subject, and the light generated at the observation subject is detected by the photo-detector that is disposed on the final-image side.
  • the photo-detector which is formed by preventing images of blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like on the surface of or inside the intermediate optical element from being superimposed on the intermediate image.
  • the above-described aspect may be provided with a Nipkow-disk-type confocal optical system that is disposed between the light source, and the photo-detector and image-forming optical system.
  • the light source may be a laser light source
  • the photo-detector may be provided with a confocal pinhole and a photoelectric conversion device.
  • the present invention affords an advantage in that the manufacturing process is simple, the cost is low, and it is possible to acquire a sharp final image by preventing blemishes, foreign objects, defects, or the like in an optical element from being superimposed on an intermediate image even if the intermediate image is formed at a position coinciding with the optical element. Moreover, by improving the phase modulators, it is possible to acquire an even sharper final image.

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