| US 7,545,548 B2 | ||
| Modifiable assembly of microscopic apertures | ||
| Vincent Lauer, 1 villa de Beauté , Nogent sur Marne 94130 (France) | ||
| Filed on Apr. 24, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/409,009. | ||
| Application 11/409009 is a continuation of application No. 10/474269, granted, now 7,088,487, previously published as PCT/FR02/01222, filed on Apr. 09, 2002. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 01 04841 (FR), filed on Apr. 10, 2001; application No. PCT/FR01/02890 (WO), filed on Sep. 18, 2001; and application No. 02 00780 (FR), filed on Jan. 22, 2002. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0187516 A1, Aug. 24, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G02B 26/02 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 359—233 [359/227; 359/368] | 11 Claims |
| 1. A modifiable array comprising a plurality of microscopic apertures and adapted to filter a light beam in a confocal microscope,
comprising a plurality of plates each of which comprises a plurality of intermediate apertures,
wherein each microscopic aperture results from the superimposition of intermediate apertures in each of said plates,
wherein each of said intermediate apertures contributes to the formation of at most one microscopic aperture,
at least one of said plates being adapted to move, to switch from a first configuration to a second configuration,
wherein the size of the microscopic apertures in said second configuration differs from the size of the microscopic apertures
in said first configuration, and
wherein each microscopic aperture is made up of the superimposition of the same intermediate apertures in the second configuration
as in the first configuration,
comprising exactly three movable plates, each microscopic aperture being hexagonal.
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