Scanning Miniature Microscopes Without Lenses

The figure schematically depicts some alternative designs of proposed compact, lightweight optoelectronic microscopes that would contain no lenses and would generate magnified video images of specimens. Microscopes of this type were described previously in “Miniature Microscope Without Lenses” (NPO-20218), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 22, No. 8 (August 1998), page 43 and “Reflective Variants of Miniature Microscope Without Lenses” (NPO20610), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 9 (September 1999), page 6a. To recapitulate: In the design and construction of a microscope of this type, the focusing optics of a conventional microscope are replaced by a combination of a microchannel filter and a charge-coupled-device (CCD) image detector. Elimination of focusing optics reduces the size and weight of the instrument and eliminates the need for the time-consuming focusing operation.