Patent ID: 7301637

Claim:
A dark-field imaging device for the spatially resolved dark-field imaging of a sample ( 60 ), comprising an illumination assembly ( 20 ) for the illumination of the sample with incident light, wherein the excitation light conically impinges on the sample and is partially specular reflected thereby, thus defining a region ( 64 ) with the optical path of the direct excitation light, and a region ( 66 ) with the optical path of the directionally reflected excitation light, wherein the illumination assembly ( 20 ) comprises a grid ( 22 ) of individually addressable light sources ( 24 ), which are arranged and adapted such that the light cones of the individual light sources ( 24 ) each illuminate substantially non-overlapping regions of the sample, and a detection assembly ( 30 ) having a plurality of light guides whose one ends ( 34 ) receive the radiation emitted by the sample outside the region ( 64 ) with the optical path of the direct excitation light and the region ( 66 ) with the optical path of the directionally reflected excitation light, and whose other ends are connected to a common single detector ( 40 ), wherein the light sources ( 24 ) are serially addressable for the spatially resolved excitation of the sample and for the linking of the times at which the optical radiation was detected to the times the light sources ( 24 ) were addressed.