Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Olympus Corporation

Olympus Medical Systems Corporation

Hiroyuki Nishida

Hideyuki Takaoka

Shingo Kashima

Hiroya Fukuyama

Shinichi Takimoto

Hiroshi Ishiwata

Kenji Taira

Kenji Harano

Ryosuke Ito

Yoshiharu Saito

Akira Yagi

Daisuke Asada

Ken Fujinuma

Keiji Handa

Toshiharu Narita

The invention relates to an internal body observation device which includes an ordinary observation light source, an ordinary observation irradiation optical system, a special observation light source, a special observation irradiation optical system, an observation optical system for transmitting the light from an observation target, a detection means configured to detect the light transmitted from the observation optical system as a detection signal, and a processing unit for separating the detection signal in the respective light sources and making the detection signal into images, wherein the light from any one of the ordinary observation light source and the special observation light source is modulated, and the modulated light can be radiated to the observation target together with the light from the other light source, and the detection signal detected by the detection means is separated by the processing unit based on the frequency of the modulation.

Internal body observation device

There is provided an inside observation apparatus of an endoscope and the like which can perform an inside observation for irradiating an illumination light to a minute area of a surface of an object (for example, a living tissue) having a light scattering property and detecting a back-scattered light of the illumination light, can increase a detected light amount by a simply and low cost configuration by making an area of a detection region larger than an illumination region, and can reduce a time necessary to detect an body (for example, a blood vessel) to be observed and detect a region deeper than a conventional region.

Internal observation device for object having light scattering properties, internal body observation device, endoscope for internal observation and internal observation method

A scattering medium internal observation apparatus according to the present invention includes: a light source; an illuminating apparatus that guides light from the light source to an observation object that is a scattering body; and an observation optical system for observing the observation object illuminated by the illuminating apparatus, wherein the illuminating apparatus has a light-guiding member that guides light from the light source to a surface of the observation object, and a light-shielding member that covers the surface of the observation object and which shields light reflected or scattered in the vicinity of the light-guiding member of the observation object is disposed in the vicinity of an end portion of the light-guiding member on an observation object-side.

Scattering medium internal observation apparatus, image pickup system, image pickup method and endoscope apparatus

A wavefront measuring apparatus and a wavefront measuring method are capable of performing optical measurement on a test optical system, including an immersion optical system, with comparable ease of handling to that of the conventional measuring method using a concave member, and substantially independently of reflection that may occur at the surface closest to the test optical system among the surfaces of an optical member for reflecting light exiting from the test optical system. The wavefront measuring apparatus has a light source, a reference light path in which a reference member for producing reference light is disposed, and a test light path in which the test optical system is disposed. A plano-convex optical member with a wall thickness approximately equal to the radius of curvature of a convex surface thereof is disposed in the test light path in such a manner that a plane surface thereof faces toward the test optical system. The space between the test optical system and the plano-convex optical member is filled with a liquid.

Wavefront measuring apparatus and wavefront measuring method

The reference objective lens includes an objective lens and an index member provided with an index that indicates a reference position. The index member is disposed on the front-side focal position of the objective lens or in its vicinity. Upon the reference objective lens thus configured being mounted on an apparatus having an image sensor, an image of the index that indicates a reference position is captured with the image sensor, and a position of the index in the captured image is calculated out and stored. Then, upon a predetermined optical system being mounted on the apparatus having the image sensor in place of the reference objective lens, aberrations of the optical system are measured, and the optical system is adjusted so that aberrations at a position that corresponds to the stored position satisfy a predetermined condition.

Objective lens, combination of objective lenses, and method for adjusting optical system using objective lens

An optical filter has a spectral transmittance characteristic plotted as a curve that is not mirror-symmetric with respect to any vertical axis upon wavelength being taken along the axis of abscissa and transmittance being taken along the axis of ordinate. The optical filter can be designed and fabricated easily and efficiently. The optical filter is used with a light source that causes self-absorption, to constitute an illumination optical system. In the illumination optical system, an image of the arc lamp is projected with a sufficiently high magnification in good aberration condition on the pupil of the objective lens, light in a wavelength region that was conventionally unused is efficiently used, and, in addition, the heat problem is solved.

Optical filter and illumination optical system provided with same

A microscopic optical system which is used in an ultraviolet range of short wavelengths and has good off-axis performance, such as chromatic aberration of magnification. The optical system has an objective optical system for forming an intermediate image of a specimen and a relay optical system for imaging the intermediate image again. The relay optical system has a first lens group and a second lens group, and at least one convex lens of at lease one of the first and second lens groups is formed from quartz.

Microscopic optical system

Ultraviolet microscope optical system and optical filter used in the same optical system

The invention relates to a confocal microscope which has high resolving power and a great focal depth and is capable of observing a sample in real time, so that a fine stereoscopic structure of a highly integrated IC or the like can be inspected, and provides a confocal microscope in which a pinhole substrate,having a plurality of pinholes, located at a position of an image formed by an objective,is illuminated by light coming from a light source,to focus light passing through pinhole substrate,onto a sample,by objective,so that an image is formed thereon, light reflected at sample,is again focused onto pinhole substrate,through objective,to form an image thereon, light passing through pinhole substrate,is focused by a relay lens,or the like to re-form an image in the form of a sample image, and sample,is scanned with light by high-speed rotation of pinhole substrate,to obtain a reconstructed image of sample,wherein a longitudinal chromatic aberration-producing optical element,is located between pinhole substrate,and sample

Confocal microscope

A confocal unit that can be removably attached to a microscope body to construct a confocal microscope that is compact and suffers a minimal loss of brightness. A relay optical system for use in the confocal microscope has a compact structure with a reduced overall length and requires a reduced number of lens elements. A scanning disc placed at the image position of an objective lens is illuminated with light from a light source. Light passing through the scanning disc illuminates a specimen through the objective lens. Light reflected from the specimen passes through the objective lens again to form an image near the scanning disc. Light passing through the scanning disc passes through a relay optical system to form a specimen image. The scanning disc is rotated at high speed to scan the specimen with illuminating light at high speed, thereby obtaining a specimen image. The image is received with an image pickup device. The illuminating optical system, the scanning disc and the relay optical system can be removably attached to the microscope body as a confocal unit. The scanning disc, the relay optical system and the image pickup device are arranged in approximately the same straight line.

Confocal microscope and relay optical system for use in confocal

A scanning probe microscope includes a cantilever having a probe on its free end, a displacement measuring unit for measuring a displacement of the cantilever caused by an interaction between a specimen and the probe, and a tube actuator for supporting the cantilever and the displacement measuring unit and controlling the position of the probe in a three-dimensional manner, the actuator and the probe being arranged coaxial with each other. The apparatus also includes a special microscopic optical system including a pupil modulating element and an oblique illumination optical system for obliquely illuminating the specimen, which together constitute an optical microscope capable of high-power observation of optically transparent specimens.

Scanning probe microscope incorporating an optical microscope

An illumination optical system to be disposed between a light source and a specimen comprises, in order from a light source side, a collector lens, a diffusing plate having a diffusing surface, a light source image projecting lens, and a condenser lens. A field stop is arranged between the diffusing plate and the light source image projecting lens, and an aperture stop is arranged between the light source image projecting lens and the condenser lens. The illumination optical system can attain an ideal numerical aperture and provide uniform and bright illumination light over a predetermined area upon diffusion characteristics on the diffusing surface being adjusted.

Illumination optical system

A microscope optical system includes an illumination system for radiating light from a light source toward an object, an objective lens and an imaging lens for forming an image of the object, and an observing optical system for observing the image or a photographing optical system for photographing the image. This microscope optical system is designed so that a relay system constructed as an afocal system with a first positive lens unit and a second positive lens unit is disposed between the objective lens and the imaging lens, and an element for pupil modulation can be disposed at a position nearly conjugate with the pupil of the objective lens relayed by the relay system, satisfying a condition:

Microscope optical system

An automatic focus detection device for microscopes includes an optical system for forming an image of a sample; an image sensor for photoelectrically converting an optical image derived from the optical system; a device for storing image data such that an electric signal obtained from the image sensor is converted from analog to digital form and for processing the image data to compute contrast values; a device for comparing the contrast values; a device for moving an objective lens or a stage for the sample; and a device for storing the position of the objective lens or the stage. In this case, an image contrast at a present position is compared with a contrast at the position where an objective lens or the sample is moved along the optical axis by a predetermined distance, a distance required for movement of the objective lens or the stage is determined from this comparison, and if the distance of movement and a contrast change by the comparison are below constant values, a corresponding position will be decided as the position of the focal plane.

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Hachioji, Japan

Hiroyuki Nishida