Patent ID: 8098428

Claim:
A circular dichroism fluorescent microscope, comprising: a light source; a circular polarization/modulation device to convert, into a right circularly polarized light and a left circularly polarized light, a light beam emitted from the light source; a first optical lens for focusing the right circularly polarized light and the left circularly polarized light on a sample and irradiating the sample with use of the right circularly polarized light and the left circularly polarized light, the right circularly polarized light and the left circularly polarized light having passed through the circular polarization/modulation device; a second optical lens for focusing fluorescence emitted from the sample; a wavelength selection device to transmit only fluorescence having a set wavelength out of the fluorescence focused by the second optical lens; a fluorescence measurement device to detect the fluorescence having passed through the wavelength selection device and converts the fluorescence detected into a fluorescence intensity signal; a signal processing device to calculate, based on the fluorescence intensity signal generated by the fluorescence measurement device, a difference between (i) an intensity of fluorescence emitted from the sample at the time when the sample is irradiated with use of the right circularly polarized light, and (ii) an intensity of fluorescence emitted from the sample at the time when the sample is irradiated with use of the left circularly polarized light; a confocal device provided between the second optical lens and the wavelength selection device, the confocal device having a fine aperture section; a wavelength selecting mirror provided between the second optical lens and the confocal device, the wavelength selecting mirror reflecting the right circularly polarized light and the left circularly polarized light that have passed through the circular polarization/modulation device while transmitting the fluorescence emitted from the sample, the first optical lens and the second optical lens being of a same optical lens; and a circular polarization and fluorescence detection wavelength control device (i) to control, by an external signal, the set wavelength of the wavelength selection device, and (ii) to control a modulation light wavelength of the circular polarization/modulation device.