Patent ID: 7315039

Claim:
A confocal microspectroscope comprising: an excitation light source comprising at least two semiconductor monochromatic light sources with slightly different wavelengths formed on a same chip; a controller which sequentially irradiates monochromatic light from the semiconductor monochromatic light sources to a specimen one by one; a scanner which scans each irradiated monochromatic light on the specimen; a detector which detects a fluorescence emitted by the specimen in response to the irradiation of the monochromatic light; and an optical system which leads substantially an entire spectrum of the fluorescence emitted by the specimen to the detector; wherein an excitation profile of the fluorescence is acquired by measuring a strength of the fluorescence emitted by the specimen in response to each irradiated monochromatic light; wherein the specimen is dyed with at least one fluorescent dye; and wherein at least two wavelengths of the irradiated monochromatic light are within an excitation wavelength range of one said fluorescent dye.