Patent ID: 9110283
Filing Date: 2015-08-18
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. A super-resolution observation apparatus, comprising: an excitation light irradiation unit for irradiating excitation light intended to excite a sample on the sample; an excitation light modulation unit for modulating a spatial intensity distribution of the excitation light on the sample; an enlarged image forming unit for forming an enlarged image of the sample at an image position from observation light generated by irradiating the excitation light on the sample; an image capturing unit for converting the spatial intensity distribution of the enlarged image into digital image data; and a super-resolution processing unit for generating a super-resolution image in which a super-resolution frequency component higher than a cutoff frequency of the enlarged image forming unit is made visible from at least one piece of the digital image data, wherein the super-resolution processing unit comprises a spatial frequency intensity modulation unit that changes process contents according to (i) an intensity level of a noise included in the digital image data and (ii) an observation parameter of the super-resolution observation apparatus, and wherein the spatial frequency intensity modulation unit (i) comprises a plurality of low-pass filters having mutually different cutoff frequencies, and (ii) cuts off, by low pass filter selected from among the plurality of low-pass filters according to the intensity level of the noise and the observation parameter, a super-resolution frequency component higher than a cutoff frequency of the selected low-pass filter included in the super-resolution image.