Claims
- 1. An apparatus for controlling optical power in a microscope, the microscope including:
at least one light source configured to provide light along an illumination beam path to a sample; a detector configured to receive detection light lead along a detection beam path from the sample; and an acousto-optical or electro-optical element disposed in the illumination beam path and configured to be driven by a high-frequency source; the apparatus comprising: a measuring device configured to measure the optical power; and a control unit configured to control the high-frequency source as a function of the measured optical power so as to achieve a selectable level of the optical power.
- 2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the microscope includes a confocal laser scanning microscope.
- 3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the high-frequency source includes a voltage source.
- 4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device is disposed in the illumination beam path.
- 5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device is disposed between a scanning optical system and a tube optical system in a plane of an intermediate image of the microscope.
- 6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device is disposed directly upstream of the sample.
- 7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device is disposed downstream of the sample.
- 8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device is disposed in the detection beam path.
- 9. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device includes a detection device configured to measure optical power.
- 10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9 wherein the detection device includes at least one of a photodiode and a monitoring diode.
- 11. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the measuring device includes at least one reference pattern.
- 12. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 further comprising an optical reflecting device configured to reflect out a reference beam.
- 13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12 wherein the optical reflecting device is configured to permanently reflect out the reference beam.
- 14. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the acousto-optical or electro-optical element is disposed in the illumination beam path downstream of a beam combiner.
- 15. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the acousto-optical element includes an acousto-optical tunable filter.
- 16. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the acousto-optical element includes an acousto-optical beam splitter.
- 17. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the acousto-optical element includes an acousto-optical modulator.
- 18. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein the electro-optical element includes an electro-optical modulator.
- 19. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of an RF frequency and an RF amplitude of the high-frequency source is adjustable in a nearly infinitely variable manner.
- 20. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 further comprising at least one further acousto-optical or electro-optical element controllable as a function of the measured optical power.
- 21. A method for controlling optical power in a microscope, comprising:
measuring the optical power using a measuring device; driving an acousto-optical or electro-optical element of the microscope using a high-frequency source; and controlling the high-frequency source using a control unit, the controlling being performed as a function of the measured optical power so as to achieve a selectable level of the optical power.
- 22. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the microscope includes a confocal laser scanning microscope.
- 23. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the microscope includes:
at least one light source configured to provide light along an illumination beam path to a sample; and a detector configured to receive detection light lead along a detection beam path from the sample.
- 24. The method as recited in claim 23 wherein the acousto-optical or electro-optical element is disposed in the illumination beam path.
- 25. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the high-frequency source includes a voltage source.
- 26. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the controlling is performed so that the optical power remains constant.
- 27. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the controlling is performed so that the optical power passes through a selectable profile.
- 28. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the measuring is performed by measuring the optical power in an intermediate image.
- 29. The method as recited in claim 28 wherein the measuring is performed by measuring the optical power in the intermediate image on a frame-by-frame basis.
- 30. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the measuring is performed by measuring the optical power each time before an image is recorded.
- 31. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the measuring is performed by measuring the optical power in a reference beam that is permanently reflected out.
- 32. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the measuring is performed by measuring the optical power in a spectrally selective manner.
- 33. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising correcting minor fluctuations of the optical power by changing an RF amplitude of the high-frequency source.
- 34. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising, upon larger fluctuations of the optical power, recording a complete intensity-frequency curve so as to determine an optimum RF frequency of the high-frequency source.
- 35. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein the controlling is performed by correcting, upon an occurrence of weak laser lines, an RF frequency of the high-frequency source when an optical power loss of the laser line is 1%.
- 36. The method as recited in claim 21 wherein:
the microscope further includes an acousto-optical beam splitter disposed in a detection beam path; and wherein the controlling is performed by correcting an RF frequency of the high-frequency source at the acousto-optical beam splitter.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
103 24 331.3 |
May 2003 |
DE |
|
Parent Case Info
[0001] Priority is claimed to U.S. provisional application 60/544,207 and to German patent application DE 103 24 331.3, the subject matters of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60544207 |
Feb 2004 |
US |