Large numerical aperture imaging device
First Claim
1. A large numerical aperture imaging device comprising:
- first and second concave mirrors having respective first and second concave reflective surfaces facing each other along an optical axis, each of said surfaces having an aperture at said optical axis, said surfaces being aligned so that most of the light rays from an object placed near the aperture of said first surface are captured at said aperture of said second surface to form a three-dimensional real image thereat, said concave mirrors thereby being used to capture light from said object;
an object support that positions an object at said aperture of said first surface;
an image acquisition device that is mounted for movement along said optical axis at said aperture of said second surface in order to section through said three-dimensional image at various depths along said optical axis thereof, andmeans for analyzing the three-dimensional real image acquired by said image acquisition device at said various depths along said optical axis.
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Abstract
A microscope having a high effective numerical aperture (NA) is achieved in an apparatus in which a real, three-dimensional image is formed of an object placed in an aperture at the apex of one of two facing, axially-aligned concave mirrors. The three-dimensional image is acquired by a video camera positioned in a counterpart aperture at the apex of the other mirror and the acquired image is processed by computer. The processing corrects the acquired image using the point spread function of the mirror system which was previously obtained by positioning a point source of light throughout the object space and measuring the pixel values recorded by the camera'"'"'s array of sensing element while the camera was positioned at different axial distances in the image space. When the diameter of the mirrors is large compared to the specimen object, substantially all of the light leaving the specimen is captured by the mirrors and focused upon the camera, thereby achieving a high effective numerical aperture for the system which affords excellent resolution, especially when examining transparent specimens.
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8 Claims
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1. A large numerical aperture imaging device comprising:
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first and second concave mirrors having respective first and second concave reflective surfaces facing each other along an optical axis, each of said surfaces having an aperture at said optical axis, said surfaces being aligned so that most of the light rays from an object placed near the aperture of said first surface are captured at said aperture of said second surface to form a three-dimensional real image thereat, said concave mirrors thereby being used to capture light from said object; an object support that positions an object at said aperture of said first surface; an image acquisition device that is mounted for movement along said optical axis at said aperture of said second surface in order to section through said three-dimensional image at various depths along said optical axis thereof, and means for analyzing the three-dimensional real image acquired by said image acquisition device at said various depths along said optical axis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification