Patent ID: 6525875
Filing Date: 2003-02-25
Classification: G03H

Abstract:
A microscope comprising:a) means providing a laser beam, b) means for splitting the laser beam into a reference wave and an illuminating wave, c) optical means for rendering the illuminating wave plane and for directing it towards an observed object, the illuminating wave being diffracted by the observed object to produce a diffracted wave, d) optical means for superimposing the diffracted wave and the reference wave, to produce an interference pattern, e) at least one receiver for receiving and recording the interference pattern, f) means for calculating, from the recorded interference pattern, a frequency representation of the diffracted wave, corresponding to phases and amplitudes of plane wave components of the diffracted wave, g) a beam deflector for varying the direction of the illuminating wave from a first direction to a second direction, for obtaining a first frequency representation of the diffracted wave corresponding to the first direction of the illuminating wave, and a second frequency representation of the diffracted wave corresponding to the second direction of the illuminating wave, h) means for applying a first phase shift to the first frequency representation, i) means for superimposing the first frequency representation and the second frequency representation to obtain a three-dimensional frequency representation of the observed object, wherein the first phase shift is such that the part of the three-dimensional frequency representation corresponding to the first frequency representation has substantially the same phase reference as the part of the three-dimensional frequency representation corresponding to the second frequency representation.