Patent ID: 6433910
Filing Date: 2002-08-13
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
A confocal optical system comprising:a pinhole aperture for creating a point light source from light that is transmitted through an optical fiber; an optical scanning system for scanning the light that emerges from the pinhole aperture; an optical focusing system for focusing the light from the pinhole aperture, via the optical scanning system, onto or within an object such that the pinhole aperture and the focused light region at the object are at conjugate positions of the confocal optical system; at least one of the optical scanning system and the optical focusing system including a reflective surface region and region that has a different reflectivity than the reflective surface region, said region that has a different reflectivity serving to reduce the amount of light that is returned to the optical fiber without having been reflected by the object; wherein light emerges from the pinhole aperture and illuminates regions of the object via the optical scanning system and the optical focusing system, and the light reflected by the object is returned to the optical fiber via the optical scanning system and the optical focusing system.