Patent ID: 6979830
Filing Date: 2005-12-27
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for confocal scanning comprising: (a) generating and scanning over a sample along an axis a plurality of spots of excitation light, wherein emission light is released by said sample in response to excitation by said spots; (b) imaging said emission light upon a spatial filter comprising a rectangular aperture; (c) dispersing emission light that passes through said spatial filter into its component wavelengths; and (d) imaging said component wavelengths upon a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) partitioned into rectangular pixel regions orthogonal to said spatial filter such that each rectangular region receives a portion of the emission light resulting from the excitation of said sample by one of said spots; wherein each rectangular region is subdivided along its long axis into at least two spectral bins such that each spectral bin collects a different component wavelength of said portion; and wherein the dimensions of each said rectangular region are chosen such that said portion comprises emission light from a predetermined focal depth of said sample.