Patent ID: 7626151

Claim:
An optical instrument that images a specimen, the optical instrument comprising: an illumination optical system having an associated illumination beam path, the illumination optical system being operable to illuminate the specimen while the specimen is imaged by the optical instrument; and an autofocus system including an irradiation optical system generating an autofocus pattern conveyed onto the specimen along an irradiation beam path, an autofocus analysis unit receiving radiation of the irradiation beam path after reflection by the specimen, the specimen-reflected radiation being conveyed to the autofocus analysis unit along a detector beam path differing from the irradiation beam path, and a micromirror array having individually controllable and adjustable micromirrors, wherein the micromirror array acts as a deflection element in both the irradiation beam path and the detector beam path; wherein the irradiation beam path is constituted by at least a portion of the illumination beam path.