Development of birefringence confocal laser scanning microscope

Abstract

Optical microscope is often used for evaluation of optical materials and biological samples in local regions for a long time. In particular, in order to evaluate the optical anisotropy of the sample, a microscope using a polarization element such as a polarization microscope is used. As a result, phase information of the light wave can be easily obtained without staining the observation sample, and it is applied in various fields. However, it is difficult to clarify at what position the birefringence is obtained with respect to the depth direction of the sample by the focal position connected by the objective lens. In this study, a birefringence confocal laser scanning microscope using a birefringence measurement system in a confocal microscope has been developed, visualization of tomographic information of the birefringence phase difference of a sample obtained in 1μm steps, and three dimensional Birefringence can be obtained.