Patent ID: 7326899

Claim:
A laser scanning microscope comprising: a light source that generates a laser beam; an objective lens that focuses the laser beam on a sample; an optical scanning unit that two-dimensionally scans the sample with the laser beam; a first focusing-position control unit, which is provided on an optical path of the laser beam, and which shifts a first focusing position of the laser beam on the sample in a direction of an optical axis of the objective lens; a splitter element, which is arranged between the light source and the optical scanning unit, and which splits at least one of: (i) an observation light that is emitted from the first focusing position and that has a wavelength different from a wavelength of the laser light, and (ii) a reflected light that is reflected from the first focusing position, from the optical path of the laser beam; a confocal detecting unit that has a confocal aperture for confocal detection of light from the first focusing position; a second focusing-position control unit, which is provided on an optical path between the splitter element and the confocal aperture, and which matches a second focusing position of the observation light with the confocal aperture, such that the observation light is focused with respect to the confocal detecting unit; and a light selecting unit that selects the light detected by the confocal detecting unit.