Patent ID: 9097911
Filing Date: 2015-08-04
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for microscope illumination, the apparatus comprising: a laser light source that emits a light beam, beam-guiding optical elements for generating an illumination beam path, the illumination beam path comprising pupil and field planes, and a homogenizing arrangement for forming a luminous field having a homogenized intensity and configured to be directed onto a sample, wherein: the homogenizing arrangement comprises optical elements in a first section which reduce a coherence length of the light beam emitted from the laser light source, optical elements in a second section which homogenize the intensity of the light beam in a first plane and optical elements in a third section which homogenize the intensity of the light beam in a second plane, the first plane is different from the second plane, when the first plane is a pupil plane, the second plane is a field plane, the homogenizing arrangement comprises a micro-optically active element and a converging lens disposed downstream of the micro-optically active element configured to homogenize the intensity of the light beam in the pupil plane, and the optical elements in the third section comprise a diffractive optical element and a converging lens disposed downstream of the diffractive optical element, the first plane being disposed between the second section and the third section, and the converging lens is configured to image a far field of the diffractive optical element onto the second plane.