Optical arrangement for obtaining information from a sample or an observed object

1. An optical arrangement for obtaining information from a sample or an observed object, comprising:

a light source for illuminating the sample or observed object;

reception device for the light proceeding from the sample or observed object;

at least one beam splitter having a splitter surface with a transmittive area and a reflective area;

light from said source being directed to the splitter surface, reflected by the reflective area of the splitter surface to a concave mirror, focused by the concave mirror onto the transmittive area and passing through the latter; or the light being focused onto the transmittive area, passing through the latter to a concave mirror, being directed from the concave mirror to the splitter surface and being deflected by the reflective area of the latter;

the focusing being influenced by the geometry of the mirror surface of the concave mirror and distance between the concave mirror and splitter surface;

a selected beam expansion being predetermined, or

the wavefront of the light being manipulated for purposes of optimally adapting the light:

to the characteristics of the rest of the optical component groups; or

to the optical characteristics of the sample; or

to the optical characteristics of the observed object; or

any combination thereof;

wherein the concave mirror includes a spherical concave mirror provided in the illumination beam path or in the detection beam path or both, which spherical concave mirror focuses the illumination light in a punctiform manner on the splitter surface, wherein the splitter surface is inclined by 450° relative to the incident illumination light and has in its center a circular or elliptical opening which forms the transmittive area and through which the illumination light passes, and the splitter surface is followed in the direction of light flow by another spherical concave mirror which reflects the illumination light in a collimated manner back to the splitter surface, where it is deflected in the direction of the sample or detection device by the reflecting rear side of the splitter surface.

2. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , constructed as a laser scanning microscope, wherein the at least one beam splitter includes one or both of the following:

a beam splitter in the illumination beam path which has a splitter surface with a transmittive area and a reflective area, wherein the illumination light is initially directed to the splitter surface, is reflected by its reflective area to the concave mirror, is focused by the concave mirror onto the transmittive area and passes through this transmittive area to the sample, and

a beam splitter in the detection beam path that has a splitter surface with a transmittive area and a reflective area, wherein the detection light is initially directed onto the splitter surface, reflected by the reflective area of the latter to the concave mirror, focused by the concave mirror on the transmittive area and passes through the latter to a detection device.

3. The optical arrangement according to claim 2 , wherein the concave mirrors are positioned in a pupil plane of the illumination beam path and detection beam path.

4. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the beam splitters are positioned in an intermediate image plane or pupil plane of the illumination beam path or detection beam path.

5. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting devices are provided for varying the focal length of the concave mirror or for changing the distance between the respective beam splitter and the associated concave mirror, or both.

6. The optical arrangement according to claim 5 , wherein the adjusting devices are connected to the detection device via an evaluating device, and the evaluating device generates actuating signals depending on the detector signal, which actuating signals serve to vary the focal length of the concave mirror or to change the distance between the respective beam splitter and the associated concave, or both.

7. The optical arrangement according to claim 6 , wherein there are additional concave mirrors located opposite one another in pairs on both sides of the splitter surface, wherein the focal lengths vary from one pair of concave mirrors to another, each pair has a common optical axis, the optical axes of the pairs lie together in the XY-plane and are arranged so as to be rotated relative to one another around the z-axis by an angle α, and the splitter surface is supported so as to be rotatable around the z-axis and is coupled with a drive communicating with the evaluating unit, wherein the splitter surface is oriented vertical to the optical axis of a selected pair of concave mirrors, after being rotated by angle α.

8. The optical arrangement according to claim 6 , wherein one or more of the concave mirrors is/are formed with a mirror surface which is adjustable and accordingly varies the focal length and communicate(s) with the evaluating device, wherein a change in focal length is caused by an adjustment generated by the evaluating device.

9. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the spherical concave mirror is provided in the illumination beam path or in the detection beam paths, or both and is arranged together with other spherical concave mirrors of different focal lengths on a change wheel, a spherical concave mirror of selected focal length being placed in the illumination beam path or detection beam path by rotating the change wheel, or is formed with an adjustable mirror surface varying the focal length, wherein a selected focal length is predetermined by the adjustment.

10. The optical arrangement according to claim 9 , wherein the splitter surface is inclined by 45° relative to the incident illumination light or detection light and has in its center a circular, preferably elliptical, opening which forms the transmittive area and which acts as a spatial filter for the illumination beam path or detection beam path.

11. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a detector is provided for receiving the beam portion passing through the transmittive area rather than the beam portion directed to the concave mirror from the reflective area.

12. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein an optical device for collimating is arranged after the beam splitter in the illumination beam path.

13. The optical arrangement according to claim 12 , wherein an optical device for collimating is a lens or a lens system.

14. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the surface of the transmittive area to the surface of the reflective area satisfies the following condition:

R

=

A

pupil

-

A

HT

A

pupil

=

r

pupil

2

-

r

HT

2

r

pupil

2

where A pupil is the effective pupil cross section, A HT is the surface of the transmittive area, r pupil is the pupil radius and r HT is the radius of the transmittive area, where R is greater than 99%, the radius for the reflective area is about 5 mm, and the radius for the transmittive area is less than 0.25 mm.

15. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein relay optics which are used for generating a pupil at the location of one of the concave mirrors are arranged following the splitter surface.

16. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein a wavelength filter which can be swiveled into and out of the detection beam path is provided for suppressing the illumination light in fluorescence detection.

17. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein refractive optical elements which serve to reduce the focal length of the respective concave mirror are associated with one or more of the concave mirrors.

18. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein:

the pupil plane is identical to the reflector surface of a scanning device, and

scanning optics, a tube lens, and a microscope objective are positioned relative to one another in such a way that the illumination light is guided in lateral direction over the sample due to the scanning movement.

19. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein another beam splitter is provided by means of which the detection light coming from the sample is branched off from the illumination beam path.

20. The optical arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein information about beam intensity is at the outputs of the detection device, this information is compared in an evaluating device to information stored therein, and actuating signals are generated from the difference, which actuating signals are used for changing the geometry of the mirror surface and the focal length of the adaptive concave mirrors, the rotation of the change wheels or for changing the distances between the concave mirrors and the respective associated splitter surface.

21. An optical arrangement for obtaining information from a sample or an observed object, comprising:

a light source for illuminating the sample or observed object;

reception device for the light proceeding from the sample or observed object;

at least one beam splitter having a splitter surface with a transmittive area and a reflective area;

light from said source being directed to the splitter surface, reflected by the reflective area of the splitter surface to a concave mirror, focused by the concave mirror onto the transmittive area and passing through the latter; or

the light being focused onto the transmittive area, passing through the latter to a concave mirror, being directed from the concave mirror to the splitter surface and being deflected by the reflective area of the latter;

the focusing being influenced by the geometry of the mirror surface of the concave mirror and distance between the concave mirror and splitter surface;

a selected beam expansion being predetermined, or

the wavefront of the light being manipulated for purposes of optimally adapting the light:

to the characteristics of the rest of the optical component groups; or

to the optical characteristics of the sample; or

to the optical characteristics of the observed object; or

any combination thereof;

wherein the concave mirror includes a spherical concave mirror and a cylindrical concave mirror provided in the illumination beam path, detection beam path or both,

wherein the cylindrical concave mirror focuses the illumination light on the splitter surface so as to be expanded in line-shaped manner in x-direction, the splitter surface is inclined by 45° relative to the incident illumination light and has a slit-shaped opening that is likewise expanded in x-direction and forms the transmittive area, the illumination light passing through this opening, and the spherical concave mirror is arranged after the splitter surface in the direction of light flow, the illumination light being reflected back by this spherical concave mirror so as to be rotated by 90° in the y-direction to the splitter surface, where it is deflected toward the sample or toward the detection device by the reflecting rear side of the splitter surface.

22. The optical arrangement according to claim 21 , wherein with respect to line scanning in the detection device, a line-shaped detector is provided, wherein the orientation of the detector line coincides with the orientation of the scan line guided over the sample.

23. The optical arrangement according to claim 21 , wherein the ratio of the surface of the transmittive area to the surface of the reflective area satisfies the following condition:

R

=

A

pupil

-

A

HT

A

pupil

=

π

·

r

pupil

-

2

⁢

b

HT

π

·

r

pupil

where A pupil is the effective pupil surface, A HT is the surface of the transmittive area, r pupil is the pupil radius and b HT is the width of the transmittive area, where the width of the transmittive area is less than 0.25 mm and the pupil radius for the reflective area is about 5 mm.

24. An optical arrangement for obtaining information from a sample or an observed object, comprising:

a light source for illuminating the sample or observed object;

reception device for the light proceeding from the sample or observed object;

at least one beam splitter having a splitter surface with a transmittive area and a reflective area;

light from said source being directed to the splitter surface, reflected by the reflective area of the splitter surface to a concave mirror, focused by the concave mirror onto the transmittive area and passing through the latter; or

the light being focused onto the transmittive area, passing through the latter to a concave mirror, being directed from the concave mirror to the splitter surface and being deflected by the reflective area of the latter;

the focusing being influenced by the geometry of the mirror surface of the concave mirror and distance between the concave mirror and splitter surface;

a selected beam expansion being predetermined, or

the wavefront of the light being manipulated for purposes of optimally adapting the light:

to the characteristics of the rest of the optical component groups; or

to the optical characteristics of the samples; or

to the optical characteristics of the observed object; or

any combination thereof;

wherein the concave mirror includes a cylindrical concave mirror and a spherical concave mirror provided in the illumination beam path, detection beam path or both,

wherein the spherical concave mirror focuses the illumination light on the splitter surface in a punctiform manner, the splitter surface is inclined by 45° to the incident illumination light and has in its center a circular or elliptical opening which forms the transmittive area and through which the illumination light passes, and the cylindrical concave mirror is arranged after the splitter surface in the direction of light flow, which cylindrical concave mirror reflects the illumination light in line-shaped manner back to the splitter surface, where it is deflected toward the sample or toward the detection device by a reflecting rear side of the splitter surface.