Dipole scatterer for absolute characterization of high numerical aperture microscope objectives (IMAGE)
Caption
(a) Experimental setup for the characterization of high numerical aperture (NA) microscope objectives (MO). An incoming laser beam is linearly polarized and spatially filtered by a Fourier-filter. The microscope objective under investigation is labeled MO₁. A second MO is confocally aligned with respect to MO₁. MO₂ collects the transmitted beam as well as the light scattered by the nanostructure that will serve as the reference wave. A series of polarization optics, consisting of two liquid crystals and a linear polarizer, are used for the polarization projection that is necessary for the data evaluation. Imaging of the back-focal-plane of MO₂ onto a camera is facilitated by a single lens. (b) Schematic view into the focal volume. The silicon nanoparticle, carried by a glass substrate, is placed in the joint focal plane. (c) & (d) Final result for two tested MOs. The image shows the error of the phase-front that is transmitted through MO₁.
Credit
by Jörg S. Eismann, Martin Neugebauer, Klaus Mantel & Peter Banzer
Usage Restrictions
Credit must be given to the creator.
License
CC BY