The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 02, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 26, 1999
Tatsuro Otaki, Tokyo, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An optical apparatus ( ) and method for improving the contrast in an image-forming optical apparatus. The optical apparatus of the invention comprises an illumination optical system ( ) for illuminating an object (O). An objective optical system ( ) is located adjacent the object and has a transform plane ( ). A pupil modulation filter F is arranged at the transform plane and has a transmittance distribution which can be varied from a first transmission distribution (T ) to a second transmission distribution (T ) so that first and second images (I , I ) can be formed at an image plane ( ). A detector ( ) is located at the image plane and detects the first and second images. An image synthesizer ( ) electrically connected to the detector synthesizes a contrast-improved image from the first and second images.