Patent ID: 8730574
Filing Date: 2014-05-20
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. A microscope system comprising: a culture unit for holding and cultivating a specimen while maintaining constant temperature and humidity; a stage for holding the culture unit; a first light-converging optical system for converging illumination light emitted from a light source on the specimen; a second light-converging optical system for converging transmitted light that has passed through the specimen irradiated with illumination light converged by the first light-converging optical system; a transmitted-light pinhole provided at a position optically conjugate to a light-converging position of illumination light on the specimen to cut off part of transmitted light converged by the second light-converging optical system; a transmitted-light detector that detects transmitted light that has passed through the transmitted-light pinhole; a moving system for moving the stage relative to the first and second light-converging optical systems, the transmitted-light pinhole, and the transmitted-light detector; a housing that encloses the culture unit, the stage, the first light-converging optical system, the second light-converging optical system, the transmitted-light pinhole, the transmitted-light detector, and the moving system, wherein the housing cuts off external light; and a control unit for (i) controlling a temperature in the housing, (ii) controlling the moving system so as to control a relative position between the stage and both of the first light-converging optical system and the second light-converging optical system, and (iii) storing data of an intensity of the transmitted light detected by the transmitted-light detector and information of the relative position in correspondence with each other; wherein the control unit is configured to create a two-dimensional image of the specimen by arranging the data of the intensity of the transmitted light based on the information of the relative position.