2064 results about "Microscopy" patented technology

An apparatus, system and method for microscopy. The apparatus, system and method includes a stage configured to receive an item; a tunable acoustic gradient index of refraction (TAG) lens having a first aspect positioned to image the received item, wherein the first aspect of the TAG lens is configured to have an optical power profile in accordance with an operational frequency of the TAG lens; one or more lenses configured to magnify an image of the received item at a viewing point; and at least one pulsed light source configured to illuminate the received item and to pulse at one or more points within the optical power profile of the TAG lens.

An objective lens with magnetic and electrostatic focusing for an electron microscopy system is provided whose at least partially conical outer shape allows orienting an object to be imaged at a large angle range in respect of an electron beam, said objective lens exhibiting, at the same time, good optical parameters. This is enabled by a specific geometry of the lens elements. Furthermore, an examination for the simultaneous imaging and processing of an object is proposed which comprises, besides an electron microscopy system with the above-mentioned objective lens, also an ion beam processing system and an object support.

The invention relates to optical microscopy, and more particularly to the methods for photothermal examination of absorbing microheterogeneities using laser radiation. The invention can be widely used in laser technique, industry, and biomedicine to examine transparent objects with absorbing submicron fragments, including detection of local impurities and defects in super-pure optical and semiconducting materials and non-destructive diagnostics of biological samples on cellular and subcellular levels.The object of the present invention is to increase sensitivity, spatial resolution and informative worth when examining local absorbing heterogeneities in transparent objects, as well as to detect the size of said heterogeneities even if said size is smaller than the radiation wavelength used.Said object is achieved by the pump beam irradiation of a sample, the duration of said irradiation not being longer than the characteristic time of cooling of the microheterogeneity observed. A relatively vast surface of the sample is irradiated at once, the size of said surface not being larger than the wavelength of the pump laser used. The refraction index thermal variations, induced by the pump beam in the sample and being the result of absorption, are registered by the parameter change of the probe laser beam. A chosen probe beam diameter should not be smaller than the pump beam diameter. The diffraction-limited phase distribution over the probe laser beam cross-section is transformed to an amplitude image using a phase contrast method. The properties of microheterogeneities are estimated by measuring said amplitude image.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, there is a force sensor for a probe based instrument. The force sensor can comprise a detection surface and a flexible mechanical structure disposed a first distance above the detection surface so as to form a gap between the flexible mechanical structure and the detection surface, wherein the flexible mechanical structure is configured to deflect upon exposure to an external force, thereby changing the first distance.