コンフォーカル・レーザー走査顕微鏡の三次元結像特性
1988 年 57 巻 5 号 p. 784-791
詳細
1988 年 57 巻 5 号 p. 784-791
A new theory for analyzing the three dimensional imaging characteristics of optical microscopes is proposed. This theory is based on the first-order Born approximation, including diffraction limitation, the dispersion equation of optical wave, and Bragg condition. 3-D spatial-frequency bands are derived by the proposed theory for the conventional microscopes of coherent, incoherent, and fluorescence types. For the confocal microscopes of transmission and fluorescence types, precise 3-D OTFs are derived. The following results are found by examining the derived OTFs: 1) A confocal transmission microscope has the same 3-D imaging characteristic as the conventional incoherent microscope. 2) The longitudinal resolving power of a confocal fluorescence microscope is higher than any type of conventional or confocal microscopes. This microscope does not have the “missing cone” in its 3-D OTF space. 3) The lateral spatial-frequency band of a confocal fluorescence microscope is twice as wide as a fluorescence microscope with uniform illumination.
