Patent ID: 6891670

Claim:
A double confocal scanning microscope comprising: a light source defining an illuminating beam path with an inherent unmodified illumination point spread function (PSF), the illuminating beam path having a length; a detector defining a detection beam path with an inherent unmodified detection point spread function (PSF), and two spaced apart microscope objectives for focusing light propagating along the illumination beam path onto a specimen which is disposed in a common specimen plane defined by the two microscope objectives, the length of the illuminating beam path being the same for both microscope objectives; and at least one optical component disposed in the illuminating or detection beam path, wherein the optical component is configured to vary the amplitude, phase or polarization of the light and thereby to modify a shape of the unmodified illumination PSF of the light in the illuminating beam path to produce a modified illumination PSF or of the unmodified detection PSF in the detection beam path to produce a modified detection PSF, wherein secondary maxima of modified and unmodified PSFs are located at different axial positions causing reduction of intensity of secondary maxima of an overall PSF produced by the modified illumination PSF and/or modified detection PSF.