Scanning Photon Microscope based on a MEMS 2d Scanner Mirror

Scanning photon microscopes (SPM), also known as laser scanning microscopes (LSM), are provided by several commercial manufacturers, e. g. [1-4]. Technically they illuminate a sample with light from a laser light source which is deflected in two directions. The reflected light is detected through a photo sensitive detector. From the position of the laser spot and the detector signal the image of the sample is calculated. Applying a second detector behind an aperture stop, bright and dark field images of the sample can be taken. Furthermore processes like fluorescence or RAMAN can be initiated. If the sample or a kind of marker added to the sample creates a fluorescence or RAMAN signal from a selected wavelength, the signal can be separated through an additional filter in front of the detector or a spectrometer respectively. Doing this, interesting applications in the field of non destructive testing arise. State of the art systems offer an optical resolution of 0.2 ... 0.5 mu m but they are bulky and expensive. In our new approach we aim at a lower resolution of 5 ... 10 mu m applying a small system size and less effort for installation and usage. This aim can be reached using a 2d MEMS scanner mirror for the laser light deflection. The test setup realized has a size of 20cm x 10cm x 5cm. A red semiconductor laser with 30mW has been used for evaluation. An image area of 10mm x 10mm has been selected. 1000 x 1000 pixels were taken in accordance with 10 mu m optical resolution. First images have been captured using MEMS devices like scanner mirrors as objects.