Patent ID: 7538861

Claim:
An optical instrument lighting system for imaging a cytological sample including nuclear material and cytoplasmic material on a slide, comprising: a light source comprising an LED microchip module, the module comprising a substrate and an array of closely spaced LEDs, including a first LED having a first narrow band wavelength for verifying that the sample was stained with a specific stain, and a second LED having a second narrow band wavelength different from the first narrow band wavelength for imaging the sample, the first and second LEDs located side-by-side and being separately controllable; and at least one lens disposed between the light source and the slide, wherein the light source illuminates the slide using light emitted from one or both of the first and second LEDs, without dichroic mixing of the light, and without the light passing through a bandwidth filter, the array of LEDs including one or more red LEDs and one or more green LEDs, the one or more red LEDs and the one or more green LEDs attached to the substrate, and a plurality of lenses, including a first lens positioned over at least one red LED, and a second lens positioned over at least one green LED, wherein the one or more red LEDs and the one or more green LEDs are embedded in a potting material, and wherein the first and second lenses are attached to the potting material.