Principles Of Three-Dimensional Imaging In Confocal Microscopes

    This book discusses the various principles in confocal scanning microscopy which has become a useful tool in many practical fields including biological studies and industrial inspection. The methodology presented in this book is unique and is based on the concept of the three-dimensional transfer functions which have been developed by the author and his colleagues over the last five years. With the 3-D transfer functions, resolving power in 3-D confocal imaging can be defined in a unified way, different optical arrangements can be compared with an insight into their inter-relationship, and images of thick objects can be modeled in terms of the Fourier transform which makes the analysis easy. The aim of this book is to provide a systematic introduction to the concept of the 3-D transfer functions in various confocal microscopes, to describe the methods for the derivation of different 3-D transfer functions, and to explain the principles of 3-D confocal imaging in terms of these functions.

Preface
1.Introduction
1.1 Confocal Microscopy
1.2 Coherence of Confocal Microscopy
1.3 Previous Studies on Three-Dimensional Optical Microscpy
1.4 Concept of Transfer Functions
1.5 Overview References
2.Three-Dimensional Fourier Optics of a Thin Lens
2.1 Diffraction of a Thin Lens
2.2 Three-Dimensional Coherent Image Formation
2.3 Three-Dimensional Space-Invariant Point Spread Function
2.4 Three-Dimensional Coherent Transfer Function
2.5 Three-Dimensional Otical Transfer Function
2.6 Three-Dimensional Imaging in a Conventional Microscpe References
3.Confocal Bright-Field Microscopy with a Point Detector
3.1 Coherent Image Formation
3.2 Coherent Transfer Function
3.3 Effects of Spherical Aberration
3.4 Imaging with Detector Offset
3.5 Influence of Pupil Functions
4.Confocal Bright-Field Microscopy with a Finite-Sized Detector
4.1 Partially-Coherent Image Formation
4.2 Intensity Point Spread Function
4.3 Transmission Corss-Coefficient
4.4 Effect of Detector Size on Axial Resolution
……
5.Confocal Single-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy
6.Confocal Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy
7.Fibre-Optical Confocal Microscopy
8.Confocal Microscopy under Ultrashort Pulse Illumination
9.Confocal Microscopy with High-Aperture Objectives
10.Significance of Three-Dimensional Transfer Functions
Hankel Transform
List of Symblos
Abbreviation
Subject Index