Appeal No. 2001-1956
Application 08/923,424
According to appellants, the invention is directed to
primarily replacing optical members 5 and 6 (Figure 6 of the
disclosure) by the birefringent optical member members 1 and 2
(Figure 1 of the disclosure). The birefringent optical members
are made by combining an isotropic member and a birefringent
member. The orientation of members 1 and 2 with respect to the
condenser lens 13 and objective lens 16 (Figure 1 of the
disclosure) is critical to the invention. The following claim is
illustrative of the invention.
1. A differential interference microscope comprising:
a light source capable of providing a polarized light;
a first birefringent optical member capable of separating
the light from the light source into two linearly polarized light
components having planes of vibration perpendicular to each
other;
a condenser lens capable of conducting the two linearly
polarized light components, separated by the first birefringent
optical member, to an object being examined;
an objective capable of focusing each of the two linearly
polarized light components from the object being examined;
a second birefringent optical member capable of synthesizing
each of the two linearly polarized light components from the
object being examined; and
polarization interference means for synthesizing the
linearly polarized light components,
2
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