Patent ID: 7369307

Claim:
A laser point scanning microscope comprising: spot illumination means for providing an illumination beam for the illumination of a sample in the form of points, a wide-field illumination source for illuminating the sample with wide-field illumination, scanning means for guiding the illumination beam in the form of points over the sample so as to scan the sample, and for achieving spatial resolution by sampling of the sample both with illumination in the form of points and with wide-field illumination, spot detector means including at least two spectral channels and a confocal aperture and a detector unit associated with each of the spectral channels for imaging, via the scanning means, the sample area illuminated by the spot illumination means and by the wide-field illumination source onto the detector units of different spectral channels using the associated confocal apertures, and control means for controlling the scanning means during the operation of the wide-field illumination source and for controlling the spot detector means for reading out the spectral channels of the spot detector means for obtaining an image of the sample subject to wide-field illumination.