Laser microscope apparatus including photodetector having a plurality of detection elements

Abstract

A laser microscope apparatus including a light source that generates a laser light serving as excitation light; a mirror scanner that scans the laser light onto a specimen; an objective lens that radiates the laser light onto the specimen and that collects light from the specimen; a uniform-illumination element that causes the light from the specimen collected by the objective lens to have a substantially uniform intensity distribution; and a photodetector that detects the light uniformized by the uniform-illumination element in a Geiger mode and that has a detector including a plurality of detection elements, the detector outputting a sum of outputs from the plurality of detection elements as an intensity signal.

1 . A laser microscope apparatus comprising:
 a light source that generates a laser light serving as excitation light;   a mirror scanner that scans the laser light onto a specimen;   an objective lens that radiates the laser light onto the specimen and that collects light from the specimen;   a uniform-illumination element that causes the light from the specimen collected by the objective lens to have a substantially uniform intensity distribution; and   a photodetector that detects the light uniformized by the uniform-illumination element in a Geiger mode and that has a detector including a plurality of detection elements, the detector outputting a sum of outputs from the plurality of detection elements as an intensity signal.   
     
     
         2 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a splitting element that splits the light from the specimen collected by the objective lens from an optical path of the excitation light,
 wherein the photodetector is disposed on an optical path that is split by the splitting element, and the uniform-illumination element is disposed between the splitting element and the photodetector.   
     
     
         3 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a collimator lens or a collimator lens group that is disposed between the splitting element and the uniform-illumination element, and that converts the light collected by the objective lens to a substantially collimated beam. 
     
     
         4 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a focusing lens and a confocal aperture that are disposed between the splitting element and the photodetector. 
     
     
         5 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 4 , further comprising a collimator lens or a collimator lens group that is disposed between the splitting element and the uniform-illumination element, and that converts the light collected by the objective lens to a substantially collimated beam,
 wherein the collimator lens or the collimator lens group is disposed between the confocal aperture and the uniform-illumination element.   
     
     
         6 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 5 , further comprising an adjusting mechanism that adjusts a position of the uniform-illumination element in an optical-axis direction. 
     
     
         7 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the adjusting mechanism has a controller that adjusts the position in the optical-axis direction on a basis of a type of the objective lens. 
     
     
         8 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the detector comprises a pixelated photon detector. 
     
     
         9 . The laser microscope apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising an adjusting mechanism that makes a beam diameter of the light incident on the photodetector substantially equal to an effective detection area of the photodetector formed by the plurality of detection elements, the adjusting mechanism adjusting the beam diameter on a basis of an exit NA of the objective lens.