Patent ID: 7362500

Claim:
A scanning microscope comprising: a laser outputting an excitation laser beam; a fiber member having a first core and a second core, said second core being generally disposed within said first core, said second core being operable to receive said excitation laser beam from said laser and transmit said excitation laser beam to a sample to be tested; a lens operably coupled to an end of said fiber member through which said excitation laser beam exits, said lens operable to achieve increased resolution and increased excitation of said sample to be tested, said lens moving with movement of said end of said fiber member; and a moveable stage supporting at least one of a group consisting of said end of said fiber member and said sample to be tested, said moveable stage being operable to move said end of said fiber member and said sample to be tested relative to each other, wherein said excitation laser beam impacts said sample to be tested to produce a resultant signal representative of said sample to be tested, and said first core being operable to collect said resultant signal from said sample to be tested independently of said second core collecting said resultant signal.