Image pickup apparatus for capturing spectral images of an object and observation system including the same

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus has a construction in which a diffraction element is provided in an observation optical system. Zero-order light that is transmitted straight through the diffraction element and one of the +1st-order diffracted light and the −1st-order diffracted light that is diffracted by the diffraction element are imaged onto an image pickup surface of an image pickup apparatus. The imaging areas of the zero-order light and one of the +1st-order diffracted light and the −1st-order diffracted light that is diffracted by the diffraction element do not overlap on the image pickup surface of the image pickup apparatus. With this construction, a small image pickup apparatus that provides a high-resolution spectral image and a color image of an object can be obtained.

1 - 8 . (canceled) 
   
   
       9 . An observation system comprising:
 an image pickup apparatus which includes:
 an observation optical system that forms an image of an object at an image surface; 
 a diffraction optical element that is arranged in the observation optical system and generates zero-order diffracted light, at least one of −1st-order diffracted light and +1st-order diffracted light from light incident onto the diffraction optical element; and 
 two solid-state image pickup devices, both of which are arranged at the image surface, one of which captures an image formed by the observation optical system using the zero-order diffracted light and the other of which captures an image formed by the observation optical system using one of the −1st-order diffracted light and the +1st-order diffracted light; 
   an image processing apparatus that processes information of images captured by the two solid-state image pickup devices; and   a display apparatus that displays images supplied by the image processing apparatus; wherein   the image processing apparatus forms an image of the object using information of the zero-order diffracted light captured by one of said two solid-state image pickup devices, and also forms a spectral image of the object by using information from one of the −1st-order diffracted light and the +1st-order diffracted light captured by the other of said two solid-state image pickup devices.   
   
   
       10 . The observation system according to  claim 9 , and further comprising:
 a first illumination device for illuminating a relatively narrow area of the object; and   a second illumination device for illuminating a relatively broad area of the object; wherein   the image processing apparatus extracts spectral information of the object using one of the −1st-order diffracted light and the +1st-order diffracted light captured by one of said two solid-state image pickup devices when the object is illuminated by the first illumination device, and extracts morphological information of the object from the zero-order diffracted light captured by the other of said two solid-state image pickup devices when the object is illuminated by the second illumination device.   
   
   
       11 . The observation system according to  claim 10 , wherein the image processing apparatus further comprises a memory for storing the image data and the spectral image data, and supplies a composite image to the display apparatus using the stored image data and spectral image data. 
   
   
       12 . The observation system according to  claim 10 , wherein the image processing apparatus forms one image by extracting a specific wavelength information from a plurality of images that include spectral information when said images are captured when illuminated by the first illumination device. 
   
   
       13 . The observation system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first illumination device is adapted to scan an area on the object. 
   
   
       14 . The observation system according to  claim 10 , wherein the first illumination device includes an LED.