Patent ID: 7688504

Claim:
An optical scanning microscope comprising: a source of illumination light, an objective pupil, a beam splitter for illuminating a specimen, the beam splitter being arranged in the objective pupil and including at least one reflecting first portion and at least one transmitting second portion, wherein one of the first and second portions couples in the illumination light and the other of the first and second portion passes detection light in a detection direction, and wherein the beam splitter has a side facing towards the specimen and a side facing away from the specimen, a first scanning arrangement for scanning illumination light through the beam splitter over the specimen, a detection unit for detecting specimen light from the first scanning arrangement, at least one further scanning arrangement coupled in via the beam splitter, and returning means for detouring of a part of the specimen light to the side of the beam splitter facing away from the specimen and for then returning the detoured specimen light toward the detection unit for detecting specimen light from the first scanning arrangement.