FIuorescence confocal microscopy is one of the most important tools in cell biology. However, the present commercially available instruments are bulky, difficult to use, and expensive. In addition, they all use some kind of a physical aperture for confocal detection, which imposes a limit on axial information gathering and introduces image artifacts. Physical Optics Corporation proposes a fluorescence confocal microscope where singlemode fiber is used both as the illumination and detection pinholes, combined with a holographic Raman filter, and wavelength division multiplexing for detection of fluorescence. The proposed instrument has superior optical performance, is easier to use, has potential for miniaturization, is more versatile, and will cost less than the commercially available instruments.
