Patent ID: 7969582

Claim:
A laser scanning microscope apparatus comprising: a light deflecting unit that gathers light from a laser light source on a sample to be examined through an objective lens and can scan the sample to be examined independently in a surface direction with the laser light, a photo-detecting unit for detecting an amount of light that transmits an optical diaphragm arranged in a position conjugate to a focal position of the objective lens and is reflected from the sample to be examined, a Z scanning unit for changing a relative distance, in a direction of an optical axis of the objective lens, between the sample to be examined and the objective lens, and a controlling unit for obtaining height information at each scanning point of the sample to be examined by obtaining the relative distance that maximizes an intensity output from the photo-detecting, which is obtained when the sample to be examined is scanned with the light from the laser light source, when the relative distance is changed by the Z scanning unit, further comprising: an arithmetic processing unit for obtaining a plurality of height profiles of one line acquired by scanning the sample to be examined in a state of a line with the light deflecting unit while shifting the plurality of height profiles in a scanning direction by a predetermined amount, and for obtaining one profile by linking the plurality of height profiles.