Autofocus apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9201232-B2
Application number	US-201313934727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 3, 2013
Priority date	Oct 16, 2009
Publication date	Dec 1, 2015
Grant date	Dec 1, 2015

Abstract

An autofocus apparatus includes, in one embodiment, a light source; a splitter; a fiber optic circulator; an optical collimator; a balance detector; and a microprocessor. The fiber optic circulator couples one of the split light signals at a first port, to the optical collimator at a second port, and to the balance detector at the third port. The optical collimator directs the light beam from the fiber optic circulator onto a sample through a Dichroic mirror and a microscope objective. The balance detector uses another one of the split light signals as an input, and converts a light signal, reflected off of a substrate the sample is placed on, into an analog voltage signal. The microprocessor processes the output of the balance detector and position feedbacks from an adjustable microscopy stage to generate a command for moving the position of the adjustable microscopy stage to achieve a desired focus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An autofocus apparatus, comprising:
a light source;
a splitter for splitting a light beam illuminated by the light source to a first portion of a light signal and a second portion of a light signal;
an fiber optic circulator having a first port, second port and a third port; wherein the light signal in the fiber optic circulator travels only from the first port to the second port and from the second port to the third port; wherein the fiber optic circula…

Assignees

• Brooker Jeffrey S
• Thorlabs Inc

Inventors

• Brooker Jeffrey S

Classifications

• G02B21/245 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02B21/06 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02B21/26

  Physics · mapped topic