A microscope comprising: a sample stage for mounting a sample; a light source for illuminating the sample when mounted on the sample stage; a detector; a first objective disposed on one side of the sample stage; a second objective disposed on an opposite side of the sample stage; a first set of optical elements defining a first light path from the first objective to the detector; and a second set of optical elements defining a second light path from the second objective to the detector. The first objective and the second objective have a common optical axis and are configured to image a sample mounted on the sample stage in a common focal plane. Furthermore, the first objective is a high magnification objective and the second objective is a low magnification objective. The provision of such a microscope configuration enables a sample to be viewed simultaneously at both high and low magnifications and/or allows rapid switching between high and low magnification images, for example to provide quasi-simultaneous viewing at both magnifications.

Disclosed herein is a device for enabling observation of a fluorescent sample with a microscope, the device including a disk-shaped body rotatable around a central axis of the disk-shaped body, including microoptical elements or microlenses for spot-generation, and, optionally, microoptical elements or microlenses for condensing emission-spots and enabling super resolution imaging of the sample. The device may further include additional pinholes for spatial filtering of the emission light, but not affecting the excitation light.

A Raman analysing apparatus comprises an imaging optical system for imaging an object along an optical path to an optical detector, an irradiation optical system for illuminating the object, and a scanning device comprising a spinning pinhole disk. The irradiation optical system directs light onto the scanning device to illuminate the object at a plurality of illumination points. The imaging optical system images Raman scattered light emitted from the object at the illumination points to an intermediate image plane at which the scanning device is located. The imaging optical system may include a spectral filter and/or at least one optical spectral analyser. The apparatus enables high speed confocal Raman imaging and/or high speed confocal Raman spectography to be performed.

The invention relates to a filter interchange apparatus for an optical observation instrument having two beam paths, in particular for a stereoscopic observation instrument, in particular for a stereo video endoscope, a stereo exoscope or a stereo surgical microscope, wherein the filter interchange apparatus comprises a first filter wheel, a second filter wheel and a third filter wheel, wherein the filter wheels are arranged in succession along a common axle and are rotatable about the common axle and relative to one another. Each filter wheel comprises at least one filter and at least one free optical passage such that a filter or a free optical passage of each filter wheel is introducible into each of the two beam paths. The second filter wheel is drivable and the first filter wheel is coupled to the second filter wheel via a first entrainment element and the third filter wheel is coupled to the second filter wheel via a second entrainment element. Moreover, the invention relates to an optical observation instrument having two beam paths, in particular a stereo video endoscope, a stereo exoscope or a stereo surgical microscope, and to a method for changing a filter of an optical observation instrument.

A light sheet microscope includes a light source configured to emit illumination light, an optical system configured to form a light sheet from the illumination light in a sample space, the light sheet being focused in a thickness direction perpendicular to a light propagation direction thereof to form a beam waist in the thickness direction, wherein the optical system has a field diaphragm adjustable to vary a width of the light sheet in a width direction, a scanning element configured to move the light sheet a scanning distance in the sample space along a scanning direction, and a control unit configured to control the field diaphragm for adjusting the width of the light sheet and to control the scanning element for moving the light sheet by the scanning distance to manipulate a target area of a sample by scanning the target area with the beam waist.

Described is a perforated disk for selecting light for an optical imaging, in particular for an optical imaging in a confocal imaging system. The described perforated disk has an optically absorbing material, which has an absorption coefficient of at least 98%, wherein in the optically absorbing material at least one opening is present, which defines an optical passage through the perforated disk. Preferably, the optically absorbing material contains carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, there is described a (confocal) optical imaging system having such a perforated disk.

The disclosed technology brings histopathology into the operating theatre, to enable real-time intra-operative digital pathology. The disclosed technology utilizes confocal imaging devices image, in the operating theatre, “optical slices” of fresh tissue—without the need to physically slice and otherwise process the resected tissue as required by frozen section analysis (FSA). The disclosed technology, in certain embodiments, includes a simple, operating-table-side digital histology scanner, with the capability of rapidly scanning all outer margins of a tissue sample (e.g., resection lump, removed tissue mass). Using point-scanning microscopy technology, the disclosed technology, in certain embodiments, precisely scans a thin “optical section” of the resected tissue, and sends the digital image to a pathologist rather than the real tissue, thereby providing the pathologist with the opportunity to analyze the tissue intra-operatively. Thus, the disclosed technology provides digital images with similar information content as FSA, but faster and without destroying the tissue sample itself.

Methods and apparatus for optical imaging and scanning of holes machined, drilled or otherwise formed in a substrate made of composite or metallic material. The method utilizes an optical instrument for imaging and scanning a hole in combination with an image processor configured (e.g., programmed) to post-process the image data to generate one complete planarized image without conical optical distortion. The optical instrument includes an optical microscope with confocal illumination and a conical mirror axially positioned to produce a full 360-degree sub-image with conical distortion. In the post-processing step, a mathematical transformation in the form of computer-executable code is used to transform the raw conical sub-images to planar sub-images. The planarized sub-images may be stitched together to form a complete planarized image of the hole.

A confocal scanner includes a first disk which comprises a plurality of microlenses, a second disk which comprises a plurality of pinholes formed to be associated with the microlenses, wherein the second disk rotates together with the first disk, a light guider which guides a plurality of rays of split light split by the microlenses within the first region to a second region set in the first disk, and a beam splitter which is disposed between the one surface of the first disk and the another surface of the second disk, wherein light which has passed through the microlenses within the second region transmits through the beam splitter, and the beam splitter reflects light incident from the second disk toward an outward side of the first disk and the second disk in a radial direction.

An apparatus includes: an accommodation unit capable of accommodating a cell and liquid; and a rotation unit that produces a flow in the liquid in the accommodation unit to rotate the cell. The apparatus further includes a rotation controller unit that detects a rotation amount input from an input device, and controls the flow of the liquid produced by each of the output ports on a basis of the input rotation amount to control a rotation amount of the cell.