Abstract
Scanning confocal microscopy is now well developed and applied. As an alternative to a laser spot to be scanned, parallel processing can be obtained when a two-dimensional structure is moved through the focal plane and a series of image sections is recorded. Surface topography is determined by analysis of the normalized intensity of the appropriate image points, i.e., a search of the intensity maximum leads to surface coordinates. With a high numerical aperture of the optical system, the half-width of I(z) is small, and the topography can be calculated with high accuracy. But with a high numerical aperture, only small object fields can be reproduced. As an alternative to the Nipkow disk for parallel processing, high-numerical-aperture microlenses are combined in an array. The reproducible object field is then limited by the size of the array and the number of lens and detector elements.
© 1994 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
H. J. Tiziani, R. Achi, R. N. Krämer, and L. Wiegers
Appl. Opt. 35(1) 120-125 (1996)
H. J. Tiziani and H.-M. Uhde
Appl. Opt. 33(10) 1838-1843 (1994)
M. Eisner, N. Lindlein, and J. Schwider
Opt. Lett. 23(10) 748-749 (1998)