Laser scan confocal microscope

Abstract

Fluorescence is generated from an irradiated point on an inspection surface of a sample and the fluorescence is collected by an objective lens. Here, because of the magnification chromatic aberration of the objective lens, the fluorescence going out from the objective lens travels along a path shifted from the irradiation light and changed substantially into a non-scan light by a galvano-scanner. The fluorescence passes through a dichroic mirror into a plane-parallel plate after light of unnecessary wavelength is removed by a filter. The plane-parallel plate is driven in synchronization with the galvano-scanner by a computer and corrects the shift and inclination of the optical axis generated by the magnification chromatic aberration of the objective lens. Then, the fluorescence forms an image of the irradiation point of the inspection surface of the sample on a pin hole of a pin hole plate by using a collective lens.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A confocal microscope, comprising:
 a light scanner that scans illumination light from a light source on a specimen;   an objective lens disposed between the light scanner and the specimen;   a collective lens that collects observation light from the specimen;   a pinhole plate that includes a pinhole; and   a position changer that changes a positional relationship between a collection position of the observation light and the pinhole in the pinhole plate,   wherein the positional relationship between the collection position of the observation light and the pinhole in the pinhole plate is changed based on a deflection amount of the light scanner.   
     
     
         2 . A confocal microscope, comprising:
 a light scanner that scans illumination light from a light source on a specimen;   an objective lens disposed between the light scanner and the specimen;   a collective lens that collects observation light from the specimen;   a pinhole plate that includes a pinhole;   a position changer that changes a positional relationship between a collection position of the observation light and the pinhole in the pinhole plate; and   an objective lens that is able to be switched between different types of objective lenses,   wherein the positional relationship between the collection position of the observation light and the pinhole in the pinhole plate is changed based on the type of objective lens.   
     
     
         3 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 1 , wherein the position changer includes a light deflector. 
     
     
         4 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 3 , comprising:
 a light separator that separates illumination light illuminated from the light source and the observation light from the specimen,   wherein the light deflector is provided between the light separator and the pinhole plate.   
     
     
         5 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 3 , comprising:
 a light separator that separates illumination light illuminated from the light source and observation light from the specimen,   wherein the light deflector is provided between the light source and the light separator.   
     
     
         6 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 1 , wherein the position changer includes a driver that moves the pinhole plate. 
     
     
         7 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 1 , wherein the position changer includes a rotatable plane-parallel plate. 
     
     
         8 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 2 , wherein the position changer includes a light deflector. 
     
     
         9 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 8 , comprising:
 a light separator that separates illumination light illuminated from the light source and the observation light from the specimen,   wherein the light deflector is provided between the light separator and the pinhole plate.   
     
     
         10 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 8 , comprising:
 a light separator that separates illumination light illuminated from the light source and observation light from the specimen,   wherein the light deflector is provided between the light source and the light separator.   
     
     
         11 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 2 , wherein the position changer includes a driver that moves the pinhole plate. 
     
     
         12 . The confocal microscope according to  claim 2 , wherein the position changer includes a rotatable plane-parallel plate.