Patent ID: 8350230

Claim:
A Method for analyzing a specimen wherein the specimen is supported so as to be rotatable around an axis of rotation and so as to be displaceable, comprising the steps of: illuminating the specimen by a first illumination device by a substantially planar light sheet substantially parallel to the axis of rotation; imaging light radiated from the specimen as a sectional image on a detection device by an imaging objective with an optical axis which intersects the plane of the light sheet at an angle different from zero; recording a plurality of sectional images of the specimen; rotating or displacing the specimen between the recordings at least for a portion of the sectional images; registering and fusing the recorded sectional images to form a first data set of spatial image data of the specimen; illuminating the specimen by a second illumination device in transmitted light substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation, wherein the imaging objective projects at least part of the specimen approximately centrally on the detection device as a shadow image; recording a plurality of shadow images of the specimen; rotating or displacing the specimen between the recordings at least for a portion of the shadow images; and constructing a second data set of spatial image data of the specimen from the recorded shadow images by means of a back projection algorithm, wherein the first data set and second data set are fused to form a common data set of spatial image data by means of a registration algorithm.