IP Library Granted Patent US 9,477,073
Granted Patent B2
US 9,477,073 · App. 14/514,107 · Granted Oct 25, 2016

Immersion microscope objective and microscope using the same

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,477,073
App. No.
14/514,107
Granted
Oct 25, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

An immersion microscope objective includes, in order from an object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group, and a third lens group, wherein the first lens group changes a light beam from an object to a convergent light beam, the second lens group has a refractive power smaller than that of the first lens group, and the following conditional expression (1-1) is satisfied: 7.5 mm<NA 0 ×d 0 (1-1) where NA 0 denotes an object-side numerical aperture of the immersion microscope objective, and d 0 denotes a working distance of the immersion microscope objective.

Claims (75)

1. An immersion microscope objective comprising, in order from an object side:

a first lens group having a positive refractive power;

a second lens group; and

a third lens group;

wherein:

the first lens group changes a light beam from an object to a convergent light beam,

the second lens group has a refractive power smaller than that of the first lens group, and

the following conditional expression (1-1′) is satisfied:

8 mm≦NA o ×d 0   (1-1′),

where:

NA o denotes an object-side numerical aperture of the immersion microscope objective, and

d 0 denotes a working distance of the immersion microscope objective.

2. The immersion microscope objective according to claim 1 , wherein the following conditional expression (2) is satisfied:

10.6 mm≦ d 0 ×nd 0 ≦25 mm  (2),

where:

d 0 denotes the working distance of the immersion microscope objective, and

nd 0 denotes a refractive index of an immersion liquid for a d-line.

3. The immersion microscope objective according to claim 2 , wherein:

the first lens group includes, in order from the object side, a cemented lens and a single lens having a positive refractive power, and

the cemented lens includes, in order from the object side, a planoconvex lens and a meniscus lens.

4. The immersion microscope objective according to claim 2 , wherein:

the third lens group includes, in order from the object side, an object-side lens group and an image-side lens group,

the object-side lens group includes a lens having a concave surface facing an image side and the concave surface is positioned nearest to the image side,

the image-side lens group includes a lens having a concave surface facing the object side and the concave surface is positioned nearest to the object side, and

the following conditional expressions (3) and (4) are satisfied:

0.02≦( d 1 /d 0 )×( nd m −nd 0 )≦0.19  (3), and

0.01≦| d 1 /R 1 |≦0.185  (4),

where:

d 0 denotes the working distance of the immersion microscope objective,

d 1 denotes a thickness on an optical axis of a lens positioned nearest to the object side,

nd 0 denotes a refractive index of an immersion liquid for a d-line,

nd m denotes a refractive index of a meniscus lens positioned nearest to the object side for the d-line, and

R 1 denotes a radius of curvature of an object-side surface of a prescribed meniscus lens, the prescribed meniscus lens being a meniscus lens that is positioned nearest to the object side among any meniscus lenses having an image-side surface constituting an air-contact surface.

5. The immersion microscope objective according to claim 2 , wherein:

the second lens group includes a cemented lens and moves along an optical axis, and

the following conditional expression (5) is satisfied:

0.205≦(OPL max −OPL min )/ f ≦0.35  (5),

where:

OPL max denotes a maximum optical path length of a plurality of prescribed optical path lengths,

OPL min denotes a minimum optical path length of the plurality of prescribed optical path lengths,

f denotes a focal length of an entire system of the immersion microscope objective, and

the prescribed optical path length OPL is an optical path length between the immersion microscope objective and an in-focus position, and is expressed by the following expression (A):

OPL

=

i

=

1

N

(

W

i

×

n

i

)

(

A

)

where:

N denotes the number of substances that are present between the immersion microscope objective and the in-focus position,

W i denotes a width in an optical axis direction of an i-th substance among the substances, and

n i denotes a refractive index at a wavelength of 900 nm of the i-th substance among the substances.

6. The immersion microscope objective according to claim 2 , wherein the following conditional expressions (6) and (7) are satisfied:

1.3≦ m g2 ≦−0.8  (6), and

−0.38≦ f/f 2m ≦0  (7),

where:

m g2 denotes a magnification of the second lens group,

f denotes a focal length of an entire system of the immersion microscope objective, and

f 2m denotes a focal length of the second lens group.

7. A microscope comprising:

a scanner section;

a main-body section; and

the immersion microscope objective recited in claim 1 .

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 25, 2023
From: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
To: EVIDENT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 062492/0267 →
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Recorded Nov 9, 2016
From: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 040580/0799 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 14, 2014
From: KASAHARA, TAKASHI
To: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033947/0732 →