Patent ID: 8031399

Claim:
An illumination device for the illumination of an object plane of a light microscope, the light microscope including an objective having an optical axis, the illumination device comprising: a light source, a field diaphragm, an illumination optics including at least one illumination lens, and at least one deflection means; and an illumination beam path defined by the light source, the field diaphragm, the illumination optics, and the at least one deflection means, the illumination beam path having an axis that encloses an angle α of greater than 0° with the optical axis of the objective; wherein the field diaphragm, the illumination optics and the deflection means are positioned and orientated relative to one another such that a diaphragm plane defined by the field diaphragm, an illumination lens plane defined by the illumination lens, and a first image plane of an image of the field diaphragm intersect at least approximately along a common straight line, wherein the first image plane is defined as a plane of an image of the field diaphragm produced by the illumination optics without deflection by the deflection means; and wherein a second image plane of the image of the field diaphragm runs in or parallel to the object plane, wherein the second image plane is defined as a plane of an image of the field diaphragm produced by the illumination optics and being deflected by the deflection means.