Patent ID: 7170676

Claim:
An illumination switching apparatus comprising: an objective having a numerical aperture which enables total reflection illumination to be performed on a target; at least two light sources including a first light source that comprises a laser oscillator and a second light source that comprises a laser oscillator; at least two shutter mechanisms, which include a first shutter mechanism provided across an optical path of a first laser beam emitted by the first light source and a second shutter mechanism provided across an optical path of a second laser beam emitted by the second light source, and which cooperate to selectively permit the laser beam emitted by one of the light sources to be passed therethrough while interrupting the laser beam emitted from another of the light sources; an illumination system which guides a received one of the laser beams output from the at least two light sources to the objective; and an illumination switching section which selects one of a first optical path and a second optical path, wherein when the first optical path is selected, the first laser beam output from the first light source is guided through the illumination system to travel along an optical axis of the objective to illuminate the target in a standard observation mode, and wherein when the second optical path is selected, the second laser beam output from the second light source is guided through the illumination system and the objective to illuminate the target in a total reflection observation mode.