US 12,222,484 B2
Illumination device for a confocal microscope
Christian Rausch, Unterhaching (DE); Alf Rieckmann, Munich (DE); Manfred Hager, Munich (DE); and Jörg Lembach, Gauting (DE)
Assigned to TOPTICA Photonics AG, Gräfelfing (DE)
Filed by TOPTICA Photonics AG, Gräfelfing (DE)
Filed on Feb. 17, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/673,959.
Claims priority of application No. 10 2021 103 899.5 (DE), filed on Feb. 18, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0291493 A1, Sep. 15, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 21/00 (2006.01); H05B 45/22 (2020.01); H05B 45/32 (2020.01)
CPC G02B 21/0032 (2013.01) [H05B 45/22 (2020.01); H05B 45/32 (2020.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An illumination device, in particular for a confocal microscope, comprising
two or more semiconductor-based light sources, in particular laser diodes, which are designed to emit light at different wavelengths,
a combining unit, which is designed to combine the light emissions of the light sources into a single output light beam, and
a driver unit connected to the light sources, which driver unit is designed to synthesise an operating current signal supplied to the light sources by digital signal processing from at least one control signal, which specifies the temporal course of the light emission of each of the light sources, wherein the driver unit impresses a compensation signal on each of the operating current signals, which compensation signal at least partially compensates for a specific dynamic delay of the light emission of the particular light source, wherein the driver unit is designed to generate the compensation signal on the basis of a parameterisation stored beforehand in the drive unit and assigned to the particular light source.