Patent ID: 7319229

Claim:
An apparatus for illuminating a sample, comprising: a plurality of optical fibers that each has a first end and a second end; an illumination selector for selectively transmitting one or more incident beams so that the selected one or more incident beams are selectively output from one or more corresponding second ends of the fibers; and a lens arrangement for receiving the selected one or more incidents beams output from the corresponding one or more second ends of the fibers and directing the selected one or more incident beams towards the sample, wherein the lens arrangement and the fibers are arranged with respect to each other so as to image an imaging plane of the sample at the second ends of the fibers, wherein the lens arrangement and the optical fibers are arranged so that each optical fiber results in a specific incident beam at a specific angle being directed towards the sample when the illumination selector selectively transmits the specific incident beam and wherein at least some of the specific angles associated with the optical fibers differ from each other.