US 12,078,789 B2
Confocal microscope unit and confocal microscope
Jiro Yamashita, Hamamatsu (JP); Yasuyuki Tanabe, Hamamatsu (JP); Shunsuke Matsuda, Hamamatsu (JP); and Hirotoshi Terada, Hamamatsu (JP)
Assigned to HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K., Hamamatsu (JP)
Appl. No. 17/442,163
Filed by HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K., Hamamatsu (JP)
PCT Filed Mar. 26, 2020, PCT No. PCT/JP2020/013801
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/196784, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 1, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-062976 (JP), filed on Mar. 28, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0179185 A1, Jun. 9, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 21/16 (2006.01); G01N 21/64 (2006.01); G02B 21/00 (2006.01); G02B 26/08 (2006.01); G02B 27/14 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 21/0048 (2013.01) [G01N 21/6458 (2013.01); G02B 21/0032 (2013.01); G02B 21/0076 (2013.01); G02B 21/16 (2013.01); G02B 26/0833 (2013.01); G02B 27/14 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A confocal microscope unit attached to a connection port of a microscope including a microscope optical system to constitute a confocal microscope, the confocal microscope unit comprising:
a first subunit including a light source outputting first excitation light, a first aperture limiting a luminous flux of first fluorescence generated from a sample to be observed in response to the first excitation light, and a first photodetector detecting the first fluorescence having passed through the first aperture;
a second subunit including a light source outputting second excitation light, a second aperture limiting a luminous flux of second fluorescence generated from the sample in response to the second excitation light, and a second photodetector detecting the second fluorescence having passed through the second aperture;
a scan mirror configured to scan the excitation light output from the first and second subunits on the sample via the microscope optical system and guide the fluorescence generated from the sample in response to the excitation light to the first and second subunits; and
a main housing configured to be attachable to the connection port and to which the scan mirror, the first subunit, and the second subunit are fixed, wherein
the first subunit includes a first optical mirror configured to reflect the first excitation light and the first fluorescence and transmit the second excitation light and the second fluorescence,
the second subunit includes a second optical mirror configured to reflect the second excitation light and the second fluorescence, and
the first subunit and the second subunit are disposed in the main housing so that an incident angle of the first excitation light to the scan mirror is displaced from an incident angle of second excitation light to the scan mirror by a predetermined angle, as a result of a disposition of the second subunit to be shifted from the first subunit in a direction perpendicular to a light guiding direction of the first fluorescence toward the first optical mirror based on center positions of the first and second optical mirrors.