ULTRA-BROADBAND UV MICROSCOPE IMAGING SYSTEM WITH WIDE RANGE ZOOM CAPABILITY

• Main Authors: TSAI BIN-MING BENJAMIN, SHAFER DAVID ROSS, CHUANG YUNG-HO
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.12.2012
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR; AUXILIARY PROCESSES IN PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; MEASURING; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, e.g. CINE, X-RAY, COLOUR,STEREO-PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES,e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTORDEVICES; PHOTOSENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PURPOSES; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION; TESTING

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultra-broadband ultraviolet (UV) catadioptric imaging microscope system with wide-range zoom capability.SOLUTION: The microscope system, which comprises a catadioptric lens group and a zooming tube lens group, has high optical resolution in the deep UV wavelengths, continuously adjustable magnification, and a high numerical aperture. The system integrates microscope modules such as objectives, tube lenses and zoom optics to reduce the number of components, and to simplify the system manufacturing process. The preferred embodiment offers excellent image quality across a very broad deep ultraviolet spectral range, combined with an all-refractive zooming tube lens. The zooming tube lens is modified to compensate for higher-order chromatic aberrations that normally limits performance.