Lighting device for a microscope

1. A lighting device for a surgical microscope for illuminating an observed object at various illumination angles relative to an observation beam path of the microscope, the lighting device comprising:

an illumination system for emitting light; and

a deflection device for deflecting the light emitted by the illumination system onto the object, wherein the deflection device includes three deflection elements, at least two of the deflection elements each being at least in part a physical beam splitter and two of the deflection elements are arranged to enable simultaneous +2° and −2° illumination of the object.

2. The lighting device according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection device is a prism combination including partly reflective surfaces.

3. The lighting device according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection device is a single-unit prism block.

4. The lighting device according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection device includes at least two prism blocks spatially separated from one another.

5. A microscope for observing an object, the microscope comprising:

a main objective;

a magnifying system downstream of the main objective;

four observation beam paths; and

a lighting device including an illumination system for emitting light and a deflection device for deflecting the light emitted by the illumination system onto the object, the four observation beam paths passing through the deflection device, wherein the deflection device includes three deflection elements, two of the three deflection elements each being at least in part a physical beam splitter, and wherein at least one of the three deflection elements includes a surface that is, at least in part, fully reflective, and wherein two of the four observation beam paths are fully superimposed by a projection of the three deflection elements and another two of the four observation beam paths are partly superimposed by a projection of the three deflection elements;

whereby the lighting device is operable to illuminate the object at a plurality of illumination angles relative to an observation beam path of the microscope.

6. The microscope according to claim 5 , further comprising shutters for selectively switching illumination beam paths on or off.

7. The microscope according to claim 5 , wherein the deflection device is transversely movable with respect to an optical axis of the microscope defined by the arrangement of the main objective and magnifying system relative to one another.

8. The microscope according to claim 5 , further comprising glass blocks insertable into the observation beam paths.

9. A lighting device for a surgical microscope of a type having a pair of observation beam paths for a main observer and a pair of observation beam paths for a co-observer, the lighting device comprising:

an illumination system for emitting light; and

a deflection device arranged in the pair of observation beam paths of the main observer and in the pair of observation beam paths for the co-observer for deflecting the light emitted by the illumination system onto an object to be observed, wherein the deflection device includes a first deflection element, a second deflection element, and a third deflection element;

the first deflection element being a beamsplitter reflecting a first partial beam for +6° illumination with respect to an observation beam path of an object to be observed and transmitting a second partial beam;

the second deflection element including a fully reflective area in the shape of an arrow for reflecting a first portion of the second partial beam for +2° illumination with respect to an observation beam path of an object to be observed and transparent or semi-transparent areas bordering the fully reflective area, wherein the fully reflective area of the second deflection element overlaps only slightly with each of the pair of observation beam paths of the main observer and overlaps only slightly with one of the pair of observation beam paths of the co-observer; and

the third deflection element including a fully reflective area in the shape of an arrow for reflecting a first portion of the second partial beam for −2° illumination with respect to an observation beam path of an object to be observed and transparent or semi-transparent areas bordering the fully reflective area, wherein the fully reflective area of the third deflection element overlaps only slightly with the other of the pair of observation beam paths of the co-observer.