Patent ID: 7397601

Claim:
An optical system for imaging a microscope field of view, the optical system comprising: an objective focused on the microscope field of view; and an optical train including one or more stationary optical components configured to receive a small diameter laser beam having a non-uniform spatial distribution and to output a corrected spatial distribution to the objective that when focused by the objective at the microscope field of view provides substantially uniform static illumination over substantially the entire microscope field of view, the optical train including: a large-area stationary optical component that improves spatial uniformity of collimated light having a diameter substantially larger than the diameter of the small diameter laser beam, a stationary beam expander disposed before the large-area stationary optical component in the optical train, the stationary beam expander expanding the small diameter laser beam to produce collimated light having a substantially larger diameter suitable for coupling into the large-area stationary optical component, and a stationary beam reducer disposed after the large-area stationary optical component in the optical train, the stationary beam reducer coupling the collimated light into the objective.