Optical: systems and elements – Lens – Microscope objective
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-01
2002-08-27
Nguyen, Thong (Department: 2872)
Optical: systems and elements
Lens
Microscope objective
C359S368000, C359S391000, C359S658000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06441966
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transmission type illumination optical microscope, and in particular, to an objective lens used in this microscope and a method of using the microscope.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1
shows a schematic structure of an example of a conventional transmission type illumination optical microscope. In this figure, reference numeral
21
represents an eyepiece;
22
, a lens barrel;
23
, a microscope frame;
24
, revolver attached to the lower portion of the lens barrel
22
through the microscorpe frame
23
;
25
, an objection lens mounted to the revolver
24
;
26
, a stage supporting section attached to the microscope frame
23
so that it can be raised and lowered;
27
, a lower stage retained on the stage supporting section
26
so that it can be moved along an X axis (or a Y axis) with respect to the stage supporting section
26
;
28
, an upper stage retained on the lower stage
27
so that it can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the lower stage
27
, that is, along the Y axis (or the X axis) with respect to the stage supporting section
26
;
29
, a surface illuminant fitted into the upper stage
28
with respect to the lower stage
27
;
32
, a lower stage control knob for moving the lower stage
27
, together with the upper stage
28
, with respect to the stage supporting section
26
, and
33
, a focusing knob for raising and lowering the stage supporting section
26
through the microscope frame
23
.
The lower stage
27
and the upper stage
28
constitute a microscope stage. The specimen
30
is placed on the surface illuminant
29
through hard glass or sapphire glass and is held on the stage by a well-known clamp, not shown. Focusing is performed by turning the focusing knob
33
, and when the stage control knob
31
or
32
is turned, the specimen
30
is moved in the X or Y direction. In this way, a desired observation is carried out.
Consider the case of cytodiagnosis in which such a transmission type illumination optical microscope is used. The specimen
30
, as shown in
FIG. 2
, is made in such a away that cells of a sample are placed on a slide glass
30
a
(preparation) which is a sample holding member, and are covered with a glass cover
30
b
which is a protective transparent member, and thereby the sample is sealed between the sample holding member
30
a
and the protective transparent member
30
b
. In this case, the protective transparent member
30
b
usually has a thickness of 0.17 mm, and it is common practice that the objective lens
25
used is corrected for spherical aberration in accordance with this thickness of the protective transparent member
30
b
. For a dry objective lens which has a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.8 or more, in order to accommodate variations in thickness of the protective transparent member
30
b
, some of protective transparent members are designed so that spherical aberration can be corrected, ranging in thickness from 0.1 to 0.2 mm.
In recent years, high-speed and low-cost treatment in such cytodiagnosis and histodiagnosis has become necessary. Consequently, the high-speed preparation of the specimen
30
has also become necessary. This brings about the advent of an automatic sealing machine in which high-speed treatment of preparation of the specimen, namely sealing work of the sample, is realized (500-1000 pieces per hour). According to this machine, instead of the conventional glass cover used as the protective transparent member
30
b
, a transparent macromolecular film (0.1 mm in thickness), for example, like cellulose acetate, to which an adhesive sealant is applied, is used and pressed against the sample holding member on which the sample is placed, to thereby obtain a protective transparent member with a thickness of approximately 0.12 mm, including the layer thickness (0.02 mm) of the sealant. When this specimen is observed through a common objective lens such as that mentioned above, observation is carried out in a state where spherical aberration is not completely corrected, and thus there is the problem that the actual state of the sample cannot be correctly analyzed. In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to use an objective lens in which the spherical aberration can be corrected with respect to a change in thickness of the protective transparent member, mentioned above. However, the objective lens of this type is very expensive and in addition, requires a manual operation for correction. Hence, the problem arises that not only does this cause in increase in treatment cost of cytodiagnosis or histodiagnosis, but it cannot completely meet the requirement for handling a large amount of specimens at a high speed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a microscope objective lens which allows favorable and easy observation of the sample of a specimen provided with a protective transparent member having a thickness in a predetermined range, including a specimen made by the automatic sealing machine, and to provide a microscope using this objective lens and a method of using the microscope. In order to achieve this object, the microscope objective lens according to the present invention is constructed with fixed lens units having a numerical aperture NA which is 0.6≦NA≦0.8 and a magnification &bgr; which is 40≦&bgr;≦63, to observe a sample placed on the sample holding member and covered with the protective transparent member having a thickness t which is 0.1 mm<t<0.15 mm. The microscope according to the present invention includes a stage for supporting a sample placed on the sample holding member and covered with the protective transparent member having the thickness t which is 0.1 mm<t<0.15 mm; an objective lens constructed with fixed lens units having the numerical aperture NA which is 0.6≦NA≦0.8 and the magnification &bgr; which is 40≦&bgr;≦63, to form a magnified image of the sample; and an eyepiece for observing the magnified image of the sample formed by the objective lens.
The method of using the microscope according to the present invention is to place the sample on the sample holding member and to cover the sample with the protective transparent member having the thickness t which is 0.1 mm<t<0.15 mm so that it is observed through the protective transparent member, the objective lens constructed with the fixed lens units having the numerical aperture NA which is 0.6≦NA≦0.8 and the magnification &bgr; which is 40≦&bgr;≦63, and the eyepiece.
This and other objects as well as features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 4059342 (1977-11-01), Tojyo
patent: 4212515 (1980-07-01), Itaya
patent: 4588264 (1986-05-01), Shimizu
patent: 5406421 (1995-04-01), Kashima et al.
patent: 5699196 (1997-12-01), Misawa
patent: 5739958 (1998-04-01), Abe
patent: 5861996 (1999-01-01), Yamaguchi
patent: 11-101943 (1999-04-01), None
Nguyen Thong
Olympus Optical Co,. Ltd.
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
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