Patent ID: 6974938

Claim:
A microscope comprising: an imaging system for creating an image of an object plane using an illumination light beam of a first wavelength comprising a plurality of lenses positioned along a main optical axis of the microscope, and an optical output device for creating an image of the object plane on the image plane; a system for automatically focusing said image in said microscope, said system for automatically focusing comprising: an autofocusing light beam of a second wavelength, the autofocusing light beam being directed to reflect off the object plane; an autofocusing detection device comprising a detection system lens for receiving the reflected autofocusing light beam and directing the reflected autofocusing light beam onto a detection surface; a plurality of light sensors adapted to measure the light intensity of the reflected autofocusing light beam at said detection surface, wherein the distance that the image of the object plane is displaced from a desired focus reference surface is determined by comparing the intensities measured by the plurality of sensors; wherein the autofocusing detection device further comprises a prism positioned between the detection system lens and the plurality of light sensors, said prism being configured to divide the autofocusing beam into at least two separate beams, the plurality of light sensors comprising at least two sensor pairs, the first sensor pair being substantially aligned with a first light beam from the prism, the second sensor pair being substantially aligned with a second light beam from the prism, said sensor pairs measuring the intensity of the light beam that strikes each sensor pair; characterized in that the imaging system further comprises: a probe arm supporting the plurality of lenses, said probe arm extending generally along the main optical axis; a scanning stage and a support on which an object to be examined is placed, wherein the object plane substantially extends along a focus plane that is observed through the microscope, and wherein the object plane is substantially parallel to the main optical axis.