Abstract

A review of the principles of operation of confocal microscopes will be given. The confocal microscope images a pinhole on the sample, and the reflected image of this spot is reimaged on the pinhole. As only a focused beam can pass back through the pinhole, a defocused image disappears rather than blurs, as it would in a standard microscope. Thus, the device can be used for optical cross sectioning of transparent biological objects and for profiling integrated circuits.

© 1990 Optical Society of America