A portable biological microscopic image analysis system is suitable for analyzing a sample on a slide in real time, and the sample comes from an animal. The portable biological microscopic image analysis system includes a handheld electronic device and a microscope kit; the handheld electronic device includes an image capture unit, an image analysis module electrically connected to the image capture unit, and a real-time state analysis module electrically connected to the image analysis module; the microscope kit is detachably mounted on the handheld electronic device; wherein the image capture unit is used to obtain an image related to the sample through the microscope kit, the image analysis module is used to obtain cell information corresponding to the animal according to the image, and the real-time state analysis module is used to obtain state information corresponding to the animal according to the cell information.

The present invention relates to a microscope for quantitative measurements of the wavefront, comprising: means for the illumination of a sample (T); an objective lens (2); an ordered two-dimensional arrangement of lenses (3), with a spacing p.sub.μ greater than 500 μm and a relative aperture of less than 10; an image sensor (4) located in a capture space (Ec) to receive the light scattered by the sample (T), and to acquire spatial and angular information on the object wavefront associated therewith; and a computational entity to perform a computational reconstruction of the object wavefront from the spatial and angular information.

Other aspects of the invention relate to a method, a computer program and a product incorporating the same, adapted for the performance of the functions of the computational entity of the microscope, as well as to a module and a kit for a microscope.

An inverted microscope is provided, the inverted microscope including a microscope stage which includes an opening prepared for transmitted light illumination and which is designed to receive a sample holder and an imaging optical unit arranged below the microscope stage. A closed lower incubation space which surrounds at least the imaging optical unit is arranged adjacent to a lower side of the microscope stage. The inverted microscope is configured such that a temperature in the lower incubation space is adjustable to a specifiable target temperature, for the purposes of which at least one temperature sensor is arranged in the lower incubation space, the measurement signal of the at least one temperature sensor serving to set the specifiable target temperature.

A method for generating and analyzing an overview contrast image of a specimen carrier and/or of specimens situated on a specimen carrier. A specimen carrier arranged at least partially in the focus of a detection optical unit is illuminated in transmitted light using a two-dimensional, array-like illumination pattern. At least two overview raw images are detected using different illuminations of the specimen carrier, and, according to information to be extracted from the overview contrast image, a combination algorithm is selected by means of which the at least two overview raw images are combined to form the overview contrast image. According to information to be extracted from the overview contrast image, an image evaluation algorithm is selected by means of which the information is extracted.

An observation apparatus including: a top plate on which a container in which a specimen is accommodated can be placed, and through which illumination light can pass; a light source that emits the illumination light upward from below the specimen; an objective lens that focuses, below the specimen and the top plate, transmitted light which is the illumination light that has passed through the specimen from thereabove and that has passed through the top plate; and a camera that captures the transmitted light, wherein the light source emits the illumination light toward an area above the specimen from outside the objective lens in a radial direction, and the top plate is provided with a mark that specifies a viewing-field area of the camera.

A sample shape measuring method includes a step of preparing illumination light that is to be passed through a predetermined illumination region, a step of irradiating the illumination light to a sample, and a predetermined processing step. The predetermined illumination region is set such that an area of a region of the illumination light passing through a pupil of an observation optical system is smaller than an area of the pupil of the observation optical system. The predetermined processing step includes a step of receiving light emerged from the observation optical system, a step of computing a position of an image of the predetermined illumination region from light received, a step of computing a difference between the position of the image of the predetermined illumination region and a reference position, and a step of calculating an amount of inclination at a surface of the sample, from the difference calculated.

A microscope for microscopic examination of a sample includes: a microscope housing enclosing an illumination optics, a microscope stage, and an imaging optics; an integrated sample chamber located within the microscope housing; and an integrated reagent chamber located within the microscope housing, the integrated reagent chamber supplying a reagent to the sample.

The present disclosure presents systems, apparatuses, and methods of holographic imaging. In this regard, a method comprises transmitting light and illuminating a semi-transparent sample object; and forming, at a hologram plane, an interference pattern of a real image of the sample object from a scattered object beam and an unscattered reference beam from the transmitted light. To do so, the scattered object beam and the unscattered reference beam are in-line with one another, and a distance between the hologram plane to the sample object is set at a distance that substantially weakens a virtual image of the sample object formed from the scattered object beam and the unscattered reference beam. Accordingly, the method further comprises recording the interference pattern of a hologram formed from the scattered object beam and the unscattered reference beam at a detector; and reconstructing a 3D optical field of the hologram without phase retrieval.

An observation apparatus is provided with: an illumination optical system that emits illumination light upward from below a specimen; and an image-capture optical system that captures, below the specimen, transmitted light which is the illumination light that has been reflected above the specimen and passed through the specimen, wherein the illumination optical system is provided with a diffusion plate, the image-capture optical system is provided with an objective optical system, and, in the case in which an emission region in the illumination optical system is projected to a pupil of the image-capture optical system, predetermined conditions are satisfied so as to partially block the illumination light at an edge portion of the pupil of the objective optical system.

Systems, methods, and apparatus for differential phase contrast microscopy by transobjective differential epi-detection of forward scattered light are provided. In some embodiments, a microscope objective comprises: a housing with mounting threads at a second end; optical components defining an optical axis, comprising: an objective lens mounted at a first end, configured to collect light from a sample placed in a field of view, the plurality of optical components create a pupil plane at a first distance along the optical axis at which rays having the same angle of incidence on the objective lens converge at the same radial distance from the optical axis; a photodetector within the housing offset from the optical axis at a second distance along the optical axis; and another photodetector within the housing at second distance along the optical axis and offset from the optical axis in the opposite direction from the first photodetector.