Confocal fluorescence microscope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9563046-B2
Application number	US-201214342966-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2012
Priority date	Sep 6, 2011
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A confocal fluorescence microscope of the present invention consists of: a light source unit broadly comprising one or more short wavelength laser beams; a lens unit which converts parallel light, emitted from a light source, into linear light having an appropriate size; a multi-color mirror which reflects the light source and enables fluorescence to transmit so as to separate the light source and the fluorescence; a scan mirror which radiates the light source over a wide area and scatters the fluorescence over a large-area camera; a microscope unit which radiates the incident light source to a target object, collects the fluorescence emitted from the target, and outputs the collected fluorescence; and a detecting unit which removes the background of the outputted fluorescent signal and observes the outputted fluorescent signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A confocal fluorescence microscope for observing a single fluorescent molecule, comprising:
a light source unit configured to comprise one or more short-wavelength lasers and one or more diachronic mirrors and to collimate light;
a lens unit configured to comprise one or more cylindrical lens and one or more circular lens and to convert the light of the light source unit into linear light;
a first Galvano mirror configured such that an angle thereof is changeable to obtain 2-dimensional fluorescent light information of an object by moving the light in a direction vertical to the linear light;
a polychromic mirror placed between the light source unit and the first Galvano mirror;
a microscope unit configured to radiate the light onto an object and to condense fluorescent light generated by the object;
a detection unit configured to comprise a large-area camera and a slit for observing the fluorescent light;
wherein the detection unit further comprises a second Galvano mirror configured to scan the inversely scanned fluorescent light onto the large-area camera; and
wherein the detection unit comprises three or more lenses, the slit is placed between a fourth circular lens and a fifth circular lens, and a sixth circular lens is placed next to the second Galvano mirror.

2. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein the second Galvano mirror of the detection unit changes its angle in synchronization with the first Galvano mirror.

3. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein the large-area camera of the detection unit is a large-area CCD camera.

4. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein the lens unit comprises three or more cylindrical lenses and three or more circular lenses, a direction of a curved surface of a second cylindrical lens is vertical to a direction of a curved surface of a first cylindrical lens, a third cylindrical lens is spaced apart from the first cylindrical lens by a sum of focal distances of the first cylindrical lens and the third cylindrical lens, and a direction of a curved surface of the third cylindrical lens is identical with the direction of the curved surface of the first cylindrical lens.

5. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 4 , wherein the focal distance of the first cylindrical lens is 10 times the focal distance of the third cylindrical lens.

6. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 5 , wherein a focal distance of the second cylindrical lens is twice the focal distance of the first cylindrical lens.

7. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 6 , wherein the focal distance of the first cylindrical lens is 25 mm, the focal distance of the second cylindrical lens is 50 mm, and the focal distance of the third cylindrical lens is 250 mm.

8. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 6 , wherein a first circular lens is spaced apart from the second cylindrical lens by a sum of the focal distance of the second cylindrical lens and a focal distance of the first circular lens, the first Galvano mirror is spaced apart from the first circular lens by the focal distance of the first circular lens, a second circular lens is spaced apart from the first Galvano mirror by a focal distance of the second circular lens, and a third circular lens is spaced apart from the second circular lens by a sum of the focal distance of the second circular lens and a focal distance of the third circular lens.

9. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 8 , wherein each of the focal distance of the first circular lens and the focal distance of the second circular lens is identical with the focal distance of the third cylindrical lens, and the focal distance of the third circular lens is 1.2 times the focal distance of the first circular lens.

10. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 9 , wherein the focal distance of the third circular lens is 300 mm.

11. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein each of a focal distance of the fourth circular lens and a focal distance of the fifth circular lens is 4 times a focal distance of a first cylindrical lens, and a focal distance of the sixth circular lens is 10 times the focal distance of the first cylindrical lens.

12. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 11 , wherein:
each of the focal distance of the fourth circular lens and the focal distance of the fifth circular lens is 100 mm, and the focal distance of the sixth circular lens is 250 mm.

13. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein an exposure time of the large-area camera of the detection unit is synchronized with a scan time of the first Galvano mirror and the second Galvano mirror.

14. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein one or more plane mirrors are provided between the lens unit and the microscope unit.

15. The confocal fluorescence microscope of claim 1 , wherein the detection unit comprises one or more plane mirrors.

Assignees

• Hohng Sung-Chul
• Lee Jin-Woo
• Snu R&Db Foundation

Inventors

• Hohng Sung-Chul
• Lee Jin-Woo

Classifications

• G02B21/16

  adapted for ultraviolet illumination {; Fluorescence microscopes (G02B21/0076 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G02B21/002

  Scanning microscopes (scanning near field optical microscopes G01Q60/18) · CPC title

• G02B21/0048

  scanning mirrors, e.g. rotating or galvanomirrors, MEMS mirrors · CPC title

• G02B21/0024

  Confocal scanning microscopes (CSOMs) or confocal "macroscopes"; Accessories which are not restricted to use with CSOMs, e.g. sample holders · CPC title

• G02B21/0076 Primary

  arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence · CPC title