Olympus Corporation

Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.

Katsuyuki Abe

Keisuke Tamura

Takashi Kasahara

Kenichi Kusaka

Yasushi Aono

Yukio Nonoda

Chikara Abe

Yoshiro Kawano

Kenji Kawasaki

Kazuhiko Osa

Atsushi Yonetani

Masayoshi Karasawa

In a microscope having a plurality of optical units each including a filter block between an objective and a tube lens, the optical unit closest to the objective among the plurality of optical units includes a first filter block provided with an optical filter having a first effective diameter. The optical unit closest to the tube lens among the plurality of optical units includes a second filter block provided with an optical filter having a second effective diameter larger than the first effective diameter.

Microscope provided with plural optical units

An immersion microscope objective includes, in order from the object side, a first lens group having positive refractive power for converting the luminous flux from an object into convergent luminous flux, a second lens group having the refractive power lower than that of the first lens group, and a third lens group, and satisfies the following conditional expression where NA indicates the numerical aperture on the object side, and dindicates a working distance:3 mm&#x3c;NA&#xd7;0&#x3c;8 mm.

Immersion microscope objective

A microscope of the present invention causes laser light emanating from a light source to enter an optical fiber via a laser light introducing mechanism. The exit end of the optical fiber is connected with an adapter having a fiber position adjustment knob. The back focal position of an objective lens and the exit end position of the optical fiber are made conjugate by a condenser lens provided inside a reflecting illumination projecting tube. By shifting the exit end position of the optical fiber, conventional reflecting illumination and evanescent illumination are available.

Illuminating optical system and microscope provided with the same

Caged reagent release experiments are carried out by introducing laser light of a laser light source for the Caged reagent release of a first reflected illumination optical system light path into a sample side through a first dichroic mirror on a cube turret and also introducing excitation light of a mercury lamp for the excitation light irradiation of a third reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a first dichroic mirror on a slider. Laser trap experiments are carried out by introducing excitation light of a mercury lamp for the excitation light irradiation of a second reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a second dichroic mirror on the cube turrent and also introducing laser light from the laser light source for the laser trap of the third reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a second dichroic mirror on the slider.

Reflected fluorescence microscope with multiple laser and excitation light sources

A fluorescence observation apparatus includes a light source, an illumination optical system conducting irradiation light from the light source to a specimen, an aperture member provided in the illumination optical system, a first wavelength selective member, a light splitter deflecting the irradiation light to conduct the light to the specimen, an objective lens interposed between the light splitter and the specimen, a second wavelength selective member transmitting fluorescent light emanating from the specimen, a detecting device receiving the fluorescent light, and a projection optical system projecting the aperture member at the pupil position of the objective lens. In this case, the aperture member has a partial aperture through which part of the irradiation light passes, and the size of the partial aperture and the magnification of the projection optical system are set to satisfy the following Conditions:NA&#x2266;NA&#x3c;NANA&#x3c;nwhere NAis a numerical aperture derived from an angle made by a ray closest to the optical axis, of rays of light passing through the partial aperture, with the optical axis on the specimen, NA is the maximum numerical aperture of the objective lens, and n is the refractive index of a medium holding the specimen.

Fluorescence observation apparatus

An optical apparatus including an illuminating optical system for illuminating a sample with light from a light source, a first wavelength selecting member, a light beam splitter for directing illuminating light toward the sample, an objective lens, a detector, and a second wavelength selecting member disposed between the objective lens and the detector, in which the first wavelength selecting member has a wavelength selecting element for selectively transmitting light having wavelengths in a predetermined region out of the illuminating light, the second wavelength selecting member has a wavelength selecting element for transmitting light having a predetermined wavelength out of light reflected by the sample, and the light beam splitter has an optical element having transmittance not lower than 85% and reflectance not higher than 14% in a wavelength region not shorter than 400 nm and not longer than 700 nm. The optical apparatus permits observing fluorescent light at the same time with a high efficiency.

Optical apparatus

A microscope for use in total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) is provided. The microscope includes a first white-light source for directing light along a first optical path; an annular slit member disposed in the first optical path, the annular slit member having an annular slit for blocking all but an annulus of light corresponding to the annular slit; and an objective lens for directing the annulus of light to a specimen such that TIRFM of the specimen is achieved. Also provided are various ways for converting the microscope to and from a TIRFM microscope and a conventional microscope.

Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope having a conventional white-light source

A microscope is disclosed that includes: a light source that emits light in a wavelength range that includes both visible and infrared wavelengths, an illuminating optical system for illuminating a specimen with the light from the light source, an objective lens for gathering light from the specimen and causing it to converge, a light beam dividing unit that divides the beam of light from the objective lens into plural divided light paths such that the wavelength ranges in the divided light paths differ from one another, a magnification conversion optical system in one of the divided light paths which converts the magnification of images formed by light in that divided light path, and an imaging device located in each of at least two of the divided light paths, wherein the objective lens has a magnifying power less than or equal to 32 and a numerical aperture greater than or equal to 0.80. The microscope allows the viewer to change the magnification as well as the wavelength range used to view an image of a specimen while minimizing the introduction of mechanical shock as the magnification and wavelength range used to view the specimen are changed.

Microscope

Caged reagent release experiments are carried out by introducing laser light of a laser light source for the Caged reagent release of a first reflected illumination optical system light path into a sample side through a first dichroic mirror on a cube turret and also introducing excitation light of a mercury lamp for the excitation light irradiation of a third reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a first dichroic mirror on a slider. Laser trap experiments are carried out by introducing excitation light of a mercury lamp for the excitation light irradiation of a second reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a second dichroic mirror on the cube turret and also introducing laser light from the laser light source for the laser trap of the third reflected illumination optical system light path into the sample side through a second dichroic mirror on the slider.

Reflected fluorescence microscope with multiple laser and excitation

A near-intfrared microscope has a light source device for illumination for emitting near-infrared rays, an illuminating optical system for illuminating a specimen with illumination light from the light source device for illumination, and an observing optical system for observing the specimen. The light source device for illumination selectively produces an arbitrary wavelength in a wavelength region ranging from 600 to 900 nm. The illuminating optical system and the observing optical system include a contrast producing unit for yielding a contrast of the specimen. In this way, cells lying at a depth of at least 100 .mu.m below the surface of the specimen can be observed, and even when an ordinary objective lens is used in the near-infrared region, imaging performance is not affected.

Near-infrared microscope

A microscope objective lens system comprising a first lens unit which comprises a positive meniscus lens component having a concave surface on the object side and has a positive refractive power, a second lens unit which comprises a diverging cemented surface and has a positive refractive power, a third lens unit which comprises surfaces having strongly diverging functions and has a negative refractive power, and a fourth lens unit which has a negative refractive power; and configured so as to allow the second lens unit to be moved relatively to the first lens unit and the third lens unit in conjunction with thickness of a transparent plane parallel plate disposed between a surface of an object to be observed and the first lens unit, thereby correcting variations of aberrations caused due to changes in thickness of plane parallel plates.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Katsuyuki Abe