Patent ID: 7423750

Claim:
An optical system, comprising: a) a sample substrate having a surface, the surface defining a 2-dimensional sample plane; b) an excitation source configured to provide excitation light to the sample substrate; c) an optical detector configured to receive emission light from the sample substrate and generate detection data; d) a scan head configured at least (i) to direct the excitation light towards the sample substrate, (ii) to receive emission light from the sample substrate and direct the emission light towards the optical detector, and (iii) for scanning relative to the sample substrate; and e) actuators configured to scan the scan head relative to the sample substrate, wherein the actuators comprise at least one of (1) a linear actuator and a rotary actuator, and the scanning comprises a relative linear motion of the linear actuator and a relative angular motion of the rotary actuator about a rotational axis generally perpendicular to the sample plane and (2) two rotary actuators, and the scanning comprises relative angular motions of the two angular actuators about two respectively different rotational axes generally perpendicular to the sample plane.