A microscope stage comprising a planar base (1) with two or more parallel grooves (2) formed extending in a first direction (5). A carriage (3) is mounted on the base with at least two projections (4) that slide in the grooves. The carriage receives a microscope slide or other sample holder (6). The carriage includes at least one guide and a biasing means (7) to urge the sample holder against the guide while permitting it to move relative to the guide in a second direction (8) orthogonal to the first direction.

Irradiation light in a visible light region is irradiated to a sample while switching irradiation of infrared light IR having a wavelength that corresponds to the infrared absorption spectrum of an observation target material included in the sample between a first state and a second state. A first image and a second image are generated based on the phase distribution, the intensity distribution, and the polarization direction distribution of the light including the irradiation light that has passed through the sample in synchronization with the switching of the infrared light IR irradiation between the first state and the second state. Subsequently, an output image is generated so as to represent one from among the position, size, and shape based on the difference and/or ratio with respect to the pixel values for each pixel between the first image and the second image.

A computational microscope and a method for its operation are disclosed. In some embodiments, the microscope maps points on a sample to point in an intensity pattern on a one-to-many basis. The microscope utilizes illumination angle coding, polarization coding, amplitude coding, and phase coding to capture more information than prior art computational microscopes. Although the resulting intensity patterns are not human-interpretable images of the sample, they contain more information about the sample, by virtue of the aforementioned coding techniques, than is captured by prior-art microscopes. Machine-learning algorithms, such as neural networks, are used to analyze the intensity patterns and extract useful information, such as cellular events or cell behavior.

A lighting device for an imaging optical device such as a microscope is provided. The lighting device illuminates an object to be analyzed in an imaging optical device for microscopic analysis in at least two different contrasting techniques. The lighting device has light sources for the illumination, where the light sources are associated with a contrasting technique are controllable independently from each other.

A surgical microscope for visualizing a tissue region contains an illumination device with a light source and an illumination beam path for illuminating an object region with an object plane and an observation device having an observation beam path for imaging the object region with the object plane into an observation plane. A first polarizer can be coupled into the illumination beam path and is suitable for polarizing the illumination light in a first orientation. A polarizer, which can be coupled into the observation beam path, has a second orientation at an angle between 80° and 100° relative to the first orientation. In a first mode, the light source emits illumination light in a first wavelength range between 450 nm and 550 nm, the first polarizer is coupled into the illumination beam path, and the second polarizer is coupled into the observation beam path.

A computer-implemented method for surface modeling includes: receiving one or more polarization raw frames of a surface of a physical object, the polarization raw frames being captured with a polarizing filter at different linear polarization angles; extracting one or more first tensors in one or more polarization representation spaces from the polarization raw frames; and detecting a surface characteristic of the surface of the physical object based on the one or more first tensors in the one or more polarization representation spaces.

According to the present disclosure, an optical signal emitted from a single molecule is received to measure a central location of the single molecule while changing a phase of a structured illumination having a periodic pattern to measure a phase of a pattern in which a fluorescence intensity is periodically changed in accordance with a distance between the pattern and the single molecule while displacing the periodic pattern by a specific interval to measure the central location of the single molecule, thereby improving an accuracy of the central location of the single molecule with low photons and as a result, the resolution of the image may be enhanced.

A quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) system and methods are provided for sample imaging and metrology in both transmissive and reflective modes. The QPM system includes a first illuminating beam propagating along a transmission-mode path and a second illuminating beam propagating along a reflection-mode path, a microscope objective lens disposed in the reflection-mode path, and a common-path interferometer comprising a diffraction grating, a Fourier lens, a pinhole, and a 2f system lens to collimate the reference beam and the imaging beam such that the collimated reference beam and imaging beam interfere with each other to form an interferogram at a final image plane.

A system for optical imaging of defects on unpatterned wafers that includes an illumination module, relay optics, a segmented polarizer, and a detector. The illumination module is configured to produce a polarized light beam incident on a selectable area of an unpatterned wafer. The relay optics is configured to collect and guide, radiation scattered off the area, onto the polarizer. The detector is configured to sense scattered radiation passed through the polarizer. The polarizer includes at least four polarizer segments, such that (i) boundary lines, separating the polarizer segments, are curved outwards relative to a plane, perpendicular to the segmented polarizer, unless the boundary line is on the perpendicular plane, and (ii) when the area comprises a typical defect, a signal-to-noise ratio of scattered radiation, passed through the polarizer segments, is increased as compared to when utilizing a linear polarizer.

An optical system is presented for optically imaging a sample including a nanoscale object. The optical system includes an imaging lens, an illumination source configured to provide an excitation light, a detector and a substrate for supporting the sample. A sample interface, arranged to reflect the excitation light, is formed between the sample and a first side of the substrate facing the sample when the sample is applied on the substrate. The optical imaging system is arranged such that the excitation light is sent into the substrate via the imaging lens and such that the detector receives a reference light and a scattered light. The reference light comprises a part of the excitation light reflected at the sample interface and collected by the imaging lens and the scattered light comprises a part of the excitation light scattered by the nanoscale object and collected by the imaging lens. The optical system is configured such that the nanoscale object is imaged at the detector, in response to the excitation light, by an optical contrast of an interference pattern between the reference light and the scattered light. The substrate comprises an optical coating disposed on the first side of the substrate such that the sample is in contact with the optical coating when the sample is applied on the substrate. A degree of reflection of the excitation light at the sample interface is such that the optical contrast is larger compared to the optical contrast obtained with the sample interface formed without the optical coating.