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:
Nov. 08, 2016
Filed:
Apr. 09, 2015
Thorlabs, Inc., Newton, NJ (US);
Alex Ezra Cable, Newton, NJ (US);
Jeffrey S. Brooker, Oak Hill, VA (US);
Thorlabs, Inc., Newton, NJ (US);
Abstract
An autofocus apparatus is capable of detecting the position of a sample on a microscope. The sample may consist of a specimen mounted between a microscope slide and coverslip or specimens within a well plate. The device tracks the position of a sample by identifying refractive index boundaries through Fresnel reflections. A change in refractive index can correspond to the top and bottom of a coverslip, the top of a slide, the bottom of a well plate or the bottom of a well within a well plate. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) these reflections are used to form a depth scan of the sample which gives the positions of these surfaces relative to the objective. The device functions as an autofocus system by compensating for any variation of the position of the sample from the focal plane of the objective.