Abstract: A method for capturing a relative alignment of a surface (2.1), extending substantially in one plane, of an object (2), in which a focus (f) of a light beam is guided along a scanning path (1). Components of the light beam that are reflected by the surface (2.1) are captured. The scanning path (1) extends substantially parallel to an x-y-plane that extends orthogonally to an optical axis (oA) of a detection objective (5). A relative position and alignment of the surface (2.1) are ascertained on the basis of the reflected components. A normal (N) of the surface (2.1) and the relative alignment thereof are virtually ascertained and/or the focus (F) is moved in the direction of the optical axis (oA) during the scanning of the scanning path (1, 1ax) such that an axial scan trajectory or an axial scanning path (1ax) are brought about.

Abstract: A method for capturing an image of an object includes guiding a scanning beam along a scanning trajectory over the object using a scanner, with the scanning movement being periodic in a direction. The scanning movement is sampled at a first sampling frequency for detecting and capturing a current position of the scanner as position values and radiation from the object is captured as captured sampling values at a second sampling frequency. Current values of the amplitude and the phase of the scanning movement are calculated. A current amplitude, phase and/or frequency and future changes in the amplitude, phase and/or frequency over time are calculated. An image grid is set, with grid elements being assigned the sampling values based on times at which the scanning beam crosses or will cross at least one boundary of the grid elements.

Abstract: A method for capturing a relative alignment of a surface (2.1), extending substantially in one plane, of an object (2), in which a focus (f) of a light beam is guided along a scanning path (1). Components of the light beam that are reflected by the surface (2.1) are captured. The scanning path (1) extends substantially parallel to an x-y-plane that extends orthogonally to an optical axis (oA) of a detection objective (5). A relative position and alignment of the surface (2.1) are ascertained on the basis of the reflected components. A normal (N) of the surface (2.1) and the relative alignment thereof are virtually ascertained and/or the focus (F) is moved in the direction of the optical axis (oA) during the scanning of the scanning path (1, 1ax) such that an axial scan trajectory or an axial scanning path (1ax) are brought about.

Abstract: The invention is based on the object of providing a particularly reliable closed-loop control for a scanner. According to various examples, this object is achieved by an analysis of a system deviation in the frequency space. By way of example, an input signal, which is indicative of a time dependence of the system deviation between an ACTUAL pose and a TARGET pose of a deflection unit of the scanner, can be expanded into a multiplicity of error components and a plurality of frequencies. Then, a corresponding correction signal component can be determined for each of the multiplicity of error components. By way of example, such techniques can be used in a laser scanning microscope.

Abstract: A method for the determination and compensation of geometric imaging errors which occur during the imaging of an object by sequential single or multispot scanning by means of a microscopic imaging system, which includes: establishing a reference object with a defined plane structure; and generating an electronic image data set of this structure free of geometric imaging errors. Then, generating at least one electronic actual image data set with the imaging system; comparing the actual image data set with the reference image data set with respect to the locations of those pixels which have the same object point as origin in each case; and determining location deviations in the actual image data set compared to the reference image data set.

Abstract: The invention is based on the object of providing a particularly reliable closed-loop control for a scanner. According to various examples, this object is achieved by an analysis of a system deviation in the frequency space. By way of example, an input signal, which is indicative of a time dependence of the system deviation between an ACTUAL pose and a TARGET pose of a deflection unit of the scanner, can be expanded into a multiplicity of error components and a plurality of frequencies. Then, a corresponding correction signal component can be determined for each of the multiplicity of error components. By way of example, such techniques can be used in a laser scanning microscope.

Abstract: A method for generating a control signal is provided. The method includes the steps of decomposing a desired movement into two partial movements which are separately equalized, and the desired control signal is obtained by summing up the corrected components. The first movement is a slowly (mostly linear) changing long-period (period T1) movement, and the second movement is a short-period (period T2) movement, wherein the period T1 is substantially longer than the period T2. The movements have to a large extent opposing temporal derivations which are nevertheless equal in magnitude so that their sum has a time derivative that is zero. In addition, a method is provided for operating a scanning unit periodically displaceable in an infeed direction by an infeed distance.

Abstract: A method for the determination and compensation of geometric imaging errors which occur during the imaging of an object by sequential single or multispot scanning by means of a microscopic imaging system, which includes: establishing a reference object with a defined plane structure; generating an electronic image data set of this structure free of geometric imaging errors; generating at least one electronic actual image data set with the imaging system; comparing the actual image data set with the reference image data set with respect to the locations of those pixels which have the same object point as origin in each case; determining location deviations in the actual image data set compared to the reference image data set; saving determined location deviations as correction data; and compensating for the geometric imaging errors by correction of the location deviations in the actual image data set with reference to the correction data.

Abstract: A method for generating a control signal is provided. The method includes the steps of decomposing a desired movement into two partial movements which are separately equalized, and the desired control signal is obtained by summing up the corrected components. The first movement is a slowly (mostly linear) changing long-period (period T1) movement, and the second movement is a short-period (period T2) movement, wherein the period T1 is substantially longer than the period T2. The movements have to a large extent opposing temporal derivations which are nevertheless equal in magnitude so that their sum has a time derivative that is zero. In addition, a method is provided for operating a scanning unit periodically displaceable in an infeed direction by an infeed distance.

Abstract: A method for recording pulse signals which allows the reconstruction of a time reference. The time of every pulse signal event can be determined by counting sampling result bits preceding the respective sampling result bit using the known sampling frequency. For this purpose, every period of the sampling frequency is associated with a bit representing the respective sampling result and the sampling result bits are stored one by one and per channel in data blocks. The sampling frequency is preferably higher than a pixel clock, a sampling result bit associated with a flank of the pixel clock being marked. The pixel clock can thus be synchronized with the individual events exactly per sampling period. The invention further relates to the field of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy using confocal microscopes or laser scanning microscopes.

Abstract: A method for recording pulse signals which allows the reconstruction of a time reference. The time of every pulse signal event can be determined by counting sampling result bits preceding the respective sampling result bit using the known sampling frequency. For this purpose, every period of the sampling frequency is associated with a bit representing the respective sampling result and the sampling result bits are stored one by one and per channel in data blocks. The sampling frequency is preferably higher than a pixel clock, a sampling result bit associated with a flank of the pixel clock being marked. The pixel clock can thus be synchronized with the individual events exactly per sampling period. The invention further relates to the field of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy using confocal microscopes or laser scanning microscopes.

Abstract: A process for recording pulse signals of at least two input channels includes sampling the input channels with a predetermined sampling frequency for events which have occurred, and after detection of an event in at least one of the input channels, or after overflow of a counter, storing the present state of all the input channels in a memory register together with a magnitude characterizing a time interval to the last storage operation. The device for recording pulse signals of at least two input channels according to the process includes a clock oscillator, a sampler that samples the input channels, a counter, and a memory. The detection of a first event in one of the input channels or the overflow of the counter, according to which event occurs first, triggers and operation of storage of the states of all the input channels and of the last counter state at the occurrence of the event.