Super-resolution microscope system and method for illumination

• US 6,667,830 B1
• Filed: 03/17/2000
• Issued: 12/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Japanese Science and Technology Agency, Japan Science & Technology Trading Co. Limited, Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Japan Science And Technology Corpration, Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Omatsu, Takashige, Fujii, Masaaki, Iketaki, Yoshinori
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Mark A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FINEMAN, LEE A
• Application Number:
  US09/445,389
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: 359/368, 359/370, 359/385, 359/386, 250/492.2, 250/458.1, 250/459.1, 250/461.1, 250/461.2, 430/139, 430/396, 356/318
• US Class Current: 359/368
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/636 using an arrangement of pump beam and probe beam; using the measurement of optical non-linear properties; non-linear optics per se G02F1/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/64 Fluorescence; Phosphorescence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6428 Measuring fluorescence of fluorescent products of reactions or of fluorochrome labelled reactive substances, e.g. measuring quenching effects, using measuring "optrodes" in vivo A61B5/00; immunoassay G01N33/53
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6445 Measuring fluorescence polarisation
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6458 Fluorescence microscopy fluorescence microscopes per se G02B21/0076 and G02B21/16
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0032 Optical details of illumination, e.g. light-sources, pinholes, beam splitters, slits, fibers G02B21/0036 - G02B21/008; means for illumination of specimens in general G02B21/06
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0056 based on optical coherence, e.g. phase-contrast arrangements, interference arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0072 details concerning resolution or correction, including general design of CSOM objectives
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/0076 arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 21/16 adapted for ultraviolet illumination ; Fluorescence microscopes G02B21/0076 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G21K 7/00 Gamma- or X-ray microscopes

Abstract

A microscope system comprising an adjusted specimen and a microscope body, wherein the adjusted specimen is dyed with molecule which has three electronic states including at least a ground state and in which an excited wavelength band from the first electron excited state to the second electron excited state overlaps a fluorescent wavelength band upon deexcitation through a fluorescence process from the first electron excited state to a vibrational level in the ground state. There is provided a novel microscope system which is enabled to condense an erase light for exciting a molecule in the first electron excited state to the second electron excited state in an excellent beam profile by using a simple, compact optical system and which has high stability and operability and an excellent super-resolution.

Claims

1. A microscope system comprising:

an adjusted specimen; and

a microscope body;

wherein said adjusted specimen is dyed with a molecule which has three electron states including at least a ground state and which has an excited wavelength band from a first electron excited state to a second electron excited state which overlaps a fluorescent wavelength band upon deexcitation through a fluorescence process from the first electron excited state to a vibrational level in the ground state;

wherein said microscope body includes;

a light source operable to provide light having a wavelength λ

1 for exciting the molecule from the ground state to the first electron excited state;

a light source operable to provide light having a wavelength λ

2 for exciting the molecule in the first electron excited state to the second or higher electron excited state;

a condensing optical system operable to condense the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 on said adjusted specimen;

an overlap device operable to partially overlap an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

1 and an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

2 on said adjusted specimen; and

an emission detector operable to detect an emission upon deexcitation of the excited molecule to the ground state;

wherein a region of the emission upon deexcitation of the molecule from the first electron excited state to the ground state is inhibited by irradiating the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 through said overlap device; and

wherein a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

at a symmetric position with respect to an optical axis of the beam in a plane normal to the optical axis.

2. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase changes continuously from 0 to 2π

when turned once around the optical axis in a plane normal to the optical axis.

3. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein an excitation wavelength band from the first electron excited state to the second electron excited state and an excitation wavelength band from the ground state to the first electron excited state are different.

4. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein an optical axis of a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the optical axis of the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 are coaxial.

5. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase changes discontinuously from 0 to 2π

when turned once around the optical axis in the plane normal to the optical axis.

6. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 is a Bessel beam.

7. A microscope system of claim 6, wherein the Bessel beam is a 1-st-order-Bessel-beam.

8. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 is a laser beam having a vibrational mode of any one of a Gauss'"'"'s type, Laguerre'"'"'s type and Hermitian'"'"'s type.

9. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein any of a gas laser, a solid laser and a semiconductor laser is provided as said light source for the light having the wavelength λ

1.

10. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser is the wavelength λ

1.

11. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein a harmonic-wave of an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser has the wavelength λ

1.

12. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein a sum frequency of, or a difference frequency between, an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser and a harmonic-wave of the oscillation wavelength has the wavelength λ

1.

13. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein the gas laser is any one of an excimer laser, a copper vapor laser, an argon laser, a He-Ne laser, a CO₂ laser, a He-Cd laser and a nitrogen laser.

14. A microscope system of claim 13, wherein the gas laser is of a mode-locked type.

15. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein the solid laser is any one of a Nd:

YAG laser, a Ti sapphire laser, a YLF laser and a ruby laser.

16. A microscope system of claim 15, wherein the solid laser is of a semiconductor-laser-excited type.

17. A microscope system of claim 15, wherein the solid laser is of a mode-locked type.

18. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein said microscope body has at least one of a nonlinear media and a wavelength modulating element for converting a wavelength of a laser beam from the gas laser, the solid laser or the semiconductor laser.

19. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element is a nonlinear crystal.

20. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element is a Raman shifter.

21. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the light having the wavelength λ

1 is prepared by modulating a wavelength of a fundamental-wave of the gas laser or the solid laser with the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element.

22. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the light having the wavelength λ

1 is prepared by modulating a wavelength of harmonic-wave of the gas laser or the solid laser with the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element.

23. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the light having the wavelength λ

2 is prepared by modulating a wavelength of a fundamental-wave of the gas laser or the solid laser with the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element.

24. A microscope system of claim 18, wherein the light having the wavelength λ

2 is prepared by modulating a wavelength of a harmonic-wave of the gas laser or the solid laser with the nonlinear media or the wavelength modulating element.

25. A microscope system of claim 9, wherein in a resonator of the gas laser, the solid laser or the semiconductor laser, there is provided at least one of a ring-shaped zonal mirror, a zonal diffraction grating, a Fresnel zone plate, a zonal aperture, and a phase plate which gives a phase difference in which electric fields axially symmetric in a plane normal to the optical axis are shifted by π

from each other.

26. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein any of a gas laser, a solid laser and a semiconductor laser is provided as said light source for the light having the wavelength λ

2.

27. A microscope system of claim 26, wherein an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser is the wavelength λ

2.

28. A microscope system of claim 26, wherein a harmonic-wave of an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser has the wavelength λ

2.

29. A microscope system of claim 26, wherein a sum frequency of, or a difference frequency between, an oscillation wavelength of any of the gas laser, the solid laser and the semiconductor laser and a harmonic-wave of the oscillation wavelength has the wavelength λ

2.

30. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase plate having a refractive-index distribution or an optical-path-difference distribution which gives, to the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength of the λ

2, a phase difference distribution in a plane normal to an optical axis of the beam.

31. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a zonal optical system.

32. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a diffractive optical system.

33. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has an axicon.

34. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said microscope body has an emission condensing optical system for condensing an emission from the molecule to said emission detector.

35. A microscope system of claim 34, wherein said emission condensing optical system has a sharp cut filter.

36. A microscope system of claim 34, wherein said emission condensing optical system has a notch filter.

37. A microscope system of claim 34, wherein said emission condensing optical system has a band-pass filter.

38. A microscope system of claim 37, wherein the band-pass filter transmits the emission from the molecule while not transmitting the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2.

39. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said adjusted specimen is sealed by a seal device made of a substance transmitting the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength of λ

2.

40. A microscope system of claim 39, wherein the substance is synthetic quartz SiO2, CaF2, NaF, Na3AlF6, LiF, MgF2, SiO2, LaF3, NdF3, Al2O3, CeF3, PbF2, MgO, ThO2, SnO2, La2O3 or SiO.

41. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said adjusted specimen is covered by a cover device made of a substance transmitting the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength of λ

2.

42. A microscope system of claim 1, what said microscope body has a continuous-wave laser which is separate from said light sources for the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2, and wherein a beam obtained by condensing the continuous-wave laser on said adjusted specimen has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

at a symmetric position with respect to the optical axis of the beam in the plane normal to the optical axis.

43. A microscope system of claim 1, wherein said microscope body has a device for relatively scanning, on said adjusted specimen, with a beam obtained by condensing a continuous-wave laser on said adjusted specimen, independently of a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength of λ

2.

44. A microscope system comprising:

an adjusted specimen; and

a microscope body;

wherein said adjusted specimen is dyed with a molecule which has three electron states including at least a ground state;

wherein said microscope body includes;

a light source operable to provide light having a wavelength λ

1 for exciting the molecule from the ground state to the first electron excited state;

a light source operable to provide light having a wavelength λ

2 for exciting the molecule in the first electron excited state to the second or higher electron excited state;

a condensing optical system operable to condense the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 on said adjusted specimen;

an overlap device operable to partially overlap an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

1 and an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

2 on said adjusted specimen; and

an emission detector operable to detect an emission upon deexcitation of the excited molecule to the ground state;

wherein a region of the emission upon deexcitation of the molecule from the first electron excited state to the ground state is inhibited by irradiating the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 through said overlap device; and

wherein a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

at a symmetric position with respect to an optical axis of the beam in a plane normal to the optical axis.

45. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase changes continuously from 0 to 2π

when turned once around the optical axis in a plane normal to the optical was.

46. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein an excitation wavelength band from the first electron excited state to the second electron excited state and an excitation wavelength band from the ground state to the first electron excited state are different.

47. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein an optical axis of a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the optical axis of the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 are coaxial.

48. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase changes discontinuously from 0 to 2π

when turned once around the optical axis in the plane normal to the optical axis.

49. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 is a Bessel beam.

50. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 is a laser beam having a vibrational mode of any one of a Gauss'"'"'s type, Laguerre'"'"'s type and Hermitian'"'"'s type.

51. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein any of a gas laser, a solid laser and a semiconductor laser is provided as said light source for the light having the wavelength λ

1.

52. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein any of a gas laser, a solid laser and a semiconductor laser is provided as said light source for the light having the wavelength λ

2.

53. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase plate having a refractive-index distribution or an optical-path-difference distribution which gives, to the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength of the λ

2, a phase difference distribution in a plane normal to an optical axis of the beam.

54. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a zonal optical system.

55. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a diffractive optical system.

56. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said condensing optical system for the light having the wavelength λ

2 has an axicon.

57. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said microscope body has an emission condensing optical system for condensing an emission from the molecule to said emission detector.

58. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said adjusted specimen is sealed by a seal device made of a substance transmitting the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2.

59. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said adjusted specimen is covered with a cover device made of a substance transmitting the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2.

60. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said microscope body has a continuous-wave laser which is separate from said light sources for the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2, and wherein a beam obtained by condensing the continuous-wave laser on said adjusted specimen has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

at a symmetric position with respect to the optical axis of the beam in the plane normal to the optical axis.

61. A microscope system of claim 44, wherein said microscope body has a device for relatively scanning, on said adjusted specimen, with a beam obtained by condensing a continuous-wave laser on said adjusted specimen, independently of a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2.

62. A method for illuminating an adjusted specimen using a microscope body, said method comprising:

dying the adjusted specimen with a molecule which has three electron states including at least a ground state and which has an excited wavelength band from a first electron excited state to a second electron excited state which overlaps a fluorescent wavelength band upon deexcitation through a fluorescence process from the first electron excited state to a vibrational level in the ground state;

providing light having a wavelength λ

1 for exciting the molecule from the ground state to the first electron excited state;

providing light having a wavelength λ

2 for exciting the molecule in the first electron excited state to the second or higher electron excited state;

condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 on the adjusted specimen;

partially overlapping an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

1 and an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

2 on the adjusted specimen; and

detecting an emission upon deexcitation of the excited molecule to the ground state;

inhibiting a region of the emission, upon deexcitation of the molecule from the first electron excited state to the ground state, by irradiating the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2; and

wherein a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

a symmetric position with respect to an optical axis of the beam in a plane normal to the optical axis.

63. A method for illuminating an adjusted specimen using a microscope body, said method comprising:

dying the adjusted specimen with a molecule which has three electron states including at least a ground state;

providing light having a wavelength λ

1 for exciting the molecule from the ground state to the first electron excited state;

providing light having a wavelength λ

2 for exciting the molecule in the first electron excited state to the second or higher electron excited state;

condensing the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2 on the adjusted specimen;

partially overlapping an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

1 and an irradiation region of the light having the wavelength λ

2 on the adjusted specimen; and

detecting an emission upon deexcitation of the excited molecule to the ground state;

inhibiting a region of the emission, upon deexcitation of the molecule from the first electron excited state to the ground state, by irradiating the light having the wavelength λ

1 and the light having the wavelength λ

2; and

wherein a beam obtained by condensing the light having the wavelength λ

2 has a phase distribution in which the phase is shifted by π

at a symmetric position with respect to an optical axis of the beam in a plane normal to the optical axis.