Patent ID: 7312921

Claim:
A microscope for observing a sample at a predetermined observation plane, comprising: an optical system comprising an objective lens and adapted to guide an image of the sample; objective lens driving means for driving the objective lens to achieve focusing and aberration correction for the sample; a solid immersion lens arranged at a position including an optical axis from the sample to the optical system; and controlling means for controlling the objective lens driving means, wherein the controlling means has a solid immersion lens mode, as a control mode, in which the focusing and aberration correction are carried out by controlling the driving of the objective lens via the objective lens driving means under a correction condition set based on a refractive index n 0 of the sample and a thickness t 0 of the sample up to the observation plane, and a refractive index n 1 , a thickness d 1 , and a radius of curvature R 1 of the solid immersion lens, and wherein a measurement depth L is determined by L=d 1 +t 0 ×(n 1 /n 0 ), and the measurement depth L is equal to the radius of curvature R 1 of the solid immersion lens.