Structured illumination apparatus, structured illumination microscopy apparatus, and profile measuring apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9709785-B2
Application number	US-201313861091-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2013
Priority date	Oct 14, 2010
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A structured illumination apparatus includes a light modulator being disposed in an exit flux of light from a light source and in which a sonic wave propagation path is arranged in a direction traversing the exit flux of light; a driving unit generating a sonic standing wave in the sonic wave propagation path by giving a driving signal for vibrating a medium of the sonic wave propagation path to the light modulator; and an illuminating optical system making mutually different diffracted components of the exit flux of light passed through the sonic wave propagation path to be interfered with each other, and forming interference fringes of the diffracted components on an observational object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A structured illumination apparatus, comprising:
a single light modulator being disposed in an exit flux of light from a light source, and in which a sonic wave propagation path is arranged in a direction traversing the exit flux of light;
a sonic standing wave driver generating a sonic standing wave in the sonic wave propagation path by giving a driving signal for vibrating a medium of the sonic wave propagation path to the single light modulator; and
an illuminating optical system comprising a lens, the illuminating optical system making mutually different diffracted components of the exit flux of light passed through the single light modulator that generates the sonic standing wave to be interfered with each other, and forming interference fringes of the diffracted components on an observational object.

2. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the sonic standing wave driver generates the sonic standing wave by setting a frequency of the driving signal given to the single light modulator to a predetermined frequency.

3. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor detecting a temperature of the medium of the sonic wave propagation path; and
an adjuster adjusting at least one of the frequency and an amplitude of the driving signal in accordance with the temperature of the medium of the sonic wave propagation path.

4. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein
the adjuster adjusts the frequency of the driving signal in accordance with the temperature being detected by the temperature sensor.

5. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein
the adjuster adjusts the amplitude of the driving signal in accordance with the temperature being detected by the temperature sensor.

6. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a heat releaser releasing heat being generated in the medium of the sonic wave propagation path.

7. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a phase shifter shifting a phase of the interference fringes.

8. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein
the phase shifter comprising a driver moving the single light modulator in a predetermined direction.

9. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the driver changes a movement amount in accordance with a direction of the sonic standing wave.

10. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein:
the exit flux of light contributing to the interference fringes is the exit flux of light passed through a predetermined partial area separated from both ends of the sonic wave propagation path; and
the phase shifter is the sonic standing wave driver which shifts the phase of the interference fringes by changing a wavelength of the sonic standing wave in a predetermined pattern.

11. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the sonic standing wave driver changes the wavelength of the sonic standing wave by changing the frequency of the driving signal given to the single light modulator in a predetermined pattern.

12. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein:
the sonic standing wave driver changes the frequency in a pattern in which a total wave number of the sonic standing wave is changed by M/2, where |M| is an integer of 1 or more; and
when a phase shift amount of the interference fringes is set to Δψ, a distance D from either end portion of the sonic wave propagation path to the partial area and a total length L of the sonic wave propagation path are set to satisfy a relation of D:L=Δψ/M:2π.

13. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein
M equals to 1.

14. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein
Δψ equals to 2π/k, where |k| is an integer of 2 or more.

15. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein
the single light modulator has a plurality of the sonic wave propagation path which intersects at the partial area.

16. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein
the single light modulator comprises a prismatic acousto-optical medium having a plurality of mutually opposing parallel coupled side faces, and a plurality of ultrasonic wave transducers each generating the sonic standing wave in the sonic wave propagation path formed between each of the plurality of coupled side faces.

17. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein
a disposition relation of the plurality of the sonic wave propagation path is set to make a direction of the interference fringes to be switchable among mutually different plurality of directions in a plane orthogonal to an optical axis of the illuminating optical system.

18. The structured illumination apparatus according to claim 16 , further comprising:
a signal generator generating the driving signal given to any one of the plurality of ultrasonic wave transducers; and
a switch switching an input destination of the driving signal being generated by the signal generator among the plurality of ultrasonic wave transducers.

19. A structured illumination microscopy apparatus, comprising:
the structured illumination apparatus according to claim 1 ; and
an image-forming optical system comprising another lens, the image-forming optical system forming, on a detector, an image with observational light flux from the observational object illuminated by the structured illumination apparatus.

20. The structured illumination microscopy apparatus according to claim 19 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor detecting a temperature of the medium of the sonic wave propagation path; and
an adjuster adjusting an exposure amount of the detector in accordance with the temperature of the medium of the sonic wave propagation path.

21. The structured illumination microscopy apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein
the observational light flux is a fluorescent light flux.

22. The structured illumination microscopy apparatus according to claim 19 , further comprising
a calculator calculating a super-resolved image of the observational object based on a plurality of images sequentially obtained by the detector while changing a wavelength of the sonic standing wave.

23. A profile measuring apparatus, comprising:
the structured illumination apparatus according to claim 1 ;
an image detector detecting an image of the observational object illuminated by the structured illumination apparatus; and
a calculator calculating a profile of the observational object based on a plurality of images sequentially obtained by the image detector while changing a wavelength of the sonic standing wave.

24. A structured illumination microscopy apparatus, comprising:
a light modulator being disposed in an exit flux of light from a light source, and in which a sonic wave propagation path is arranged in a direction traversing the exit flux of light;
a driver generating a sonic standing wave in the sonic wave propagation path by giving a driving signal for vibrating a medium of the sonic wave propagation path to the light modulator;
an illuminating optical system comprising a lens, the illuminating optical system making mutually different diffracted c

Assignees

• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Nomura Tatsushi

Classifications

• G02B21/16

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

• G02B21/06 Primary

  Means for illuminating specimens · CPC title

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title

• G02B2207/113

  Fluorescence · CPC title

• G02B27/58

  Optics for apodization or superresolution; Optical synthetic aperture systems · CPC title