Patent ID: 8724227

Claim:
A high-aperture immersion objective, adapted for confocal applications in fluorescence microscopy and for total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) applications, comprising: three subsystems, each of the three subsystems comprising lenses and/or lens groups, the three subsystems including a first subsystem, a second subsystem and a third subsystem, wherein proceeding from the object side, the first subsystem comprises a double cemented element with a high positive refractive power and three following collecting lenses, including a first collecting lens, a second collecting lens and a third collecting lens, wherein the double cemented element has a plano surface facing the object side and wherein the first collecting lens is followed by a first meniscus lens bent toward the object side and having a negative refractive power, further wherein the second subsystem comprises a double cemented element with a low positive refractive power and a triple cemented element with a low positive refractive power, wherein the double cemented element comprises a fifth collecting lens and a first diverging lens and the triple cemented element has a second diverging lens encompassed by a sixth collecting lens and a seventh collecting lens, and further wherein the third subsystem comprises a second meniscus lens and a fifth meniscus lens with a low positive refractive power, which surround a triple cemented element with a very high negative refractive power, the triple cemented element including a third meniscus lens and a fourth meniscus lens and a third diverging lens.