Abstract

The resolution of a fluorescent confocal scanning optical microscope (CSOM) is superior to that of a conventional fluorescent optical microscope. To attain this superiority, the fluorescent CSOM uses a pinhole in front of the detector. Thus, the resolution of the CSOM is dependent on the pinhole radius. Three-dimensional optical transfer functions are calculated for the various radii to elucidate this dependence. The results show that a CSOM with a radius smaller than ~1 optical unit has a bandwidth comparable with that of an infinitely small radius.

© 1990 Optical Society of America

Three-dimensional optical transfer function for the fluorescent scanning optical microscope with a slit

Shigeharu Kimura and Chusuke Munakata
Appl. Opt. 29(7) 1004-1007 (1990)

Dependence of two- and three-dimensional optical transfer functions on pinhole radius in a coherent confocal microscope

Valter Drazic
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 9(5) 725-731 (1992)

Depth resolution of the fluorescent confocal scanning optical microscope

Shigeharu Kimura and Chusuke Munakata
Appl. Opt. 29(4) 489-494 (1990)

Calculation of three-dimensional optical transfer function for a confocal scanning fluorescent microscope

Shigeharu Kimura and Chusuke Munakata
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 6(7) 1015-1019 (1989)

Three-dimensional transfer-function analysis of the tomographic capability of a confocal fluorescence microscope

Osamu Nakamura and Satoshi Kawata
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 7(3) 522-526 (1990)