Fly-Eye Lens Illumination Uniformity Across Microscope Configurations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional incident-light fluorescent illumination devices face challenges in maintaining uniform illumination due to changes in the pupil position of the objective, particularly when switching between different microscope configurations, such as moving-stage and moving-nose-piece microscopes, leading to vignetting and degradation of illumination performance.
Innovation Solution
An incident-light fluorescent illumination device is designed with a fly-eye lens optical system and a relay optical system, where the distance between the conjugate position and the pupil position of the objective is optimized to satisfy the conditional expression 0.3≦D0/Lob≦0.75, ensuring high illumination uniformity independent of the pupil position, and incorporating a relay optical system to correct aberrations and maintain even luminance across the sample surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the conventional Koehler illumination with a fly-eye lens is used to improve illumination uniformity, then the uniformity of illumination is improved, but the system becomes sensitive to changes in pupil position of the objective, causing vignetting when switching between different microscope configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The illumination system is divided into multiple optical paths with separate fly-eye lenses for different microscope configurations. The first fly-eye lens is for moving-stage microscopes and the second fly-eye lens is for moving-nose-piece microscopes, allowing each segment to be optimized for its specific configuration while maintaining overall system versatility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a switching mechanism that dynamically changes the optical path based on the microscope configuration. The illumination device can switch between different fly-eye lenses and optical paths to match the pupil position changes caused by different microscope types, maintaining illumination uniformity across configurations
2Reliability
If the entire optical system from the light source to the fly-eye lens is moved to maintain the conjugate relation between light source image and pupil position, then the conjugate relation is maintained, but the necessary amount of movement becomes excessively large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a relay optical system as an intermediary between the fly-eye lens and the objective. This relay system transfers the light source image to the pupil position with reduced magnification, allowing the conjugate relation to be maintained with smaller movements of the light source and fly-eye lens assembly
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the magnification parameter of the imaging system by introducing the relay optical system. The relay system uses a magnification ratio smaller than 1 to reduce the size of the light source image, which in turn reduces the movement distance required to maintain the conjugate relation when the pupil position changes
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution achieves high illumination uniformity and resistance to pupil position fluctuations, maintaining optimal illumination performance across various microscope configurations by adjusting the conjugate position relative to the pupil position, thereby preventing vignetting and ensuring consistent observation ranges.
Implementation Method 1
a light source emitting illumination light
Implementation Method 2
a fly-eye lens optical system receiving the illumination light from the collector lens; The fly-eye lens optical system includes a first fly-eye lens surface and a second fly-eye lens surface each having a plurality of lens elements
Implementation Method 3
a relay optical system arranged between the fly-eye lens optical system and the objective
Implementation Method 4
an objective emitting the illumination light to the sample surface; the position of the light source image and the pupil position of the objective have an optically conjugate relation
Data Source
AI summary
An incident-light fluorescent illumination device includes: a light source emitting illumination light; a collector lens receiving the illumination light from the light source; a fly-eye lens optical system receiving the illumination light from the collector lens; an objective emitting the illumination light to a sample surface; and a relay optical system arranged between the fly-eye lens optical system and the objective. The fly-eye lens optical system includes a first fly-eye lens surface and a second fly-eye lens surface each having a plurality of lens elements. The incident-light fluorescent illumination device satisfies the conditional expression of0.3≦D0/Lob≦0.75where: D0 indicates the distance between a conjugate position with the second fly-eye lens surface through the relay optical system and a pupil position of the objective, and Lob indicates a parfocalizing distance of the objective.