Patent ID: 8482853

Claim:
A stereo microscope system comprising: microscope optics configured to image an object, the microscope optics having an object plane and including an objective lens having an optical axis, the microscope optics being further configured to provide two partial beam bundles to the user; an illumination system configured to direct a first illumination light beam towards the object plane, wherein a central axis of the first illumination light beam intersects a plane which is oriented orthogonally with respect to the optical axis at a distance from the optical axis, and wherein the illumination system comprises a first actuator for changing an angle between the central axis of the first illumination light beam and the optical axis at the plane; wherein the illumination system comprises a mirror assembly and a second actuator configured to selectively transferring the mirror assembly from a first state in which the mirror assembly is positioned in a beam path of the first illumination light beam, to a second state in which the mirror assembly is removed from the beam path; wherein the mirror assembly comprises a first mirror and a second mirror, wherein the plane intersects the first mirror when it is in the first state, wherein the first mirror, when it is in the first state, is positioned to be intersected by the central axis of the first illumination light beam, and wherein the first mirror, when it is in the first state, is oriented to direct the first illumination light beam onto the second mirror, wherein the second mirror, when it is in the first state, is positioned at a second plane and oriented to deflect the first illumination light beam towards the object plane, and wherein the second mirror is positioned at a smaller distance from the optical axis than the first mirror, wherein the first illumination light beam is adjacent to, and not overlapping the two partial beam bundles at the plane, and wherein the deflected first illumination light beam is adjacent to, and not overlapping the two partial beam bundles at the second plane.