Patents by Inventor Ralf Wolleschensky

Ralf Wolleschensky has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20190170995
    Abstract: An arrangement for microscopy, having an illumination optical unit with an illumination objective for illuminating a specimen situated on a specimen carrier in a specimen region of a specimen plane via an illumination beam path. An optical axis of the illumination objective lies in a plane which includes an illumination angle that differs from zero with the normal of a specimen plane, in respect of which the specimen carrier is aligned, and the illumination is implemented in the plane. Further, a detection optical unit with a detection objective is located in a detection beam path. The optical axis of the detection objective includes a detection angle that differs from zero with the normal of the specimen plane. The illumination objective and/or the detection objective comprises an illumination correction element arranged in the beam path and/or a detection correction element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Applicant: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Dr. Jörg SIEBENMORGEN, Helmut LIPPERT, Thomas KALKBRENNER, Ingo KLEPPE, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY, Artur DEGEN, Matthias WALD, Lars-Christian WITTIG, Michael GÖLLES, Wolfgang SINGER
  • Publication number: 20190064920
    Abstract: The present invention relates firstly to a method for controlling and/or configuring a microscope. One step of the method involves generating a virtual reality in which at least synthetic control elements for controlling the microscope and components of the microscope are displayed. In another step, user inputs performed by an operator of the microscope in the virtual reality in relation to the displayed control elements and/or the depicted components of the microscope are detected. According to the invention, the user inputs are used to control and/or configure the microscope. The invention further relates to a control and/or configuration unit for a microscope.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2017
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Inventors: Alexander GAIDUK, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY, Pavlos ILIOPOULOS
  • Publication number: 20190056580
    Abstract: For the purposes of high-resolution scanning microscopy, a sample is excited by illumination radiation to emit fluorescent radiation in such a way that the illumination radiation is focused at a point in or on the sample, so as to form a diffraction-limited illumination spot. The point is imaged in a diffraction image on a detector in a diffraction-limited manner, wherein the detector has detector elements and a plurality of location channels which resolve a diffraction structure of the diffraction image. The sample is scanned with various scanning positions with an increment smaller than half the diameter of the illumination spot. An image of the sample with a resolution that is increased beyond a resolution limit of the image is generated from the data of the detector and from the scanning positions associated with these data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2016
    Publication date: February 21, 2019
    Inventors: Ingo KLEPPE, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY, Yauheni NOVIKAU
  • Publication number: 20190041621
    Abstract: A method for the optical detection of an illuminated specimen, wherein the illuminating light impinges in a spatially structured manner in at least one plane on the specimen and several images of the specimen are acquired by a detector in different positions of the structure on the specimen. An optical sectional image and/or an image with enhanced resolution is then calculated. The method includes generating a diffraction pattern in the direction of the specimen in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to the pupil. A phase plate with regions of varying phase delays is dedicated to the diffraction pattern in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to said pupil, and different phase angles of the illuminating light are set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Publication date: February 7, 2019
    Inventors: Michael Schwertner, Ralf Wolleschensky, Michael Kempe
  • Publication number: 20190003967
    Abstract: In a method for creating a digital fluorescent image, the light emitted per pixel from an object plane is converted into a sequence of amplitudes, each of which is associated with one specific measurement time, the sequence of amplitudes is auto-correlated in a manner that is delayed by at least one time offset, and a specific correlation amplitude, from which a total amplitude is determined, is formed for each of the time offsets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2016
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Inventors: Thomas KALKBRENNER, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY
  • Publication number: 20190004304
    Abstract: A device for recording images is provided, an image-recording device and an illumination device being arranged on the same side of a specimen plane in said device. The image-recording device has illumination portions, for example individual light sources, which are actuatable independently of one another in order to be able to illuminate a specimen in the specimen plane at different angles and/or from different directions. In this way, it is possible to record a plurality of images with different illuminations, which can be combined to form a results image with improved properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Publication date: January 3, 2019
    Inventors: Alexander GAIDUK, Markus STICKER, Lars STOPPE, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY
  • Patent number: 10073256
    Abstract: An apparatus for imaging a sample arranged in a first medium in an object plane. The apparatus includes an optical transmission system which images the sample in the object plane in an intermediate image in an intermediate image plane. The object plane and the intermediate image plane form an angle not equal to 90° with an optical axis of the transmission system. The apparatus further comprises an optical imaging system having an objective. The object plane may be imaged on a detector without distortion. The optical transmission system is symmetrical with respect to a pupil plane, the object plane, and the intermediate image plane to satisfy the Scheimpflug condition. The intermediate image lies in a second medium having a refractive index virtually identical to that of the first medium. A lens group of a subsystem arranged closest to the sample or intermediate image comprises at least one catadioptric assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignees: CARL ZEISS MICROSCOPY GMBH, CARL ZEISS AG
    Inventors: Wolfgang Singer, Ralf Wolleschensky, Wilhelm Ulrich, David Shafer, Artur Degen
  • Patent number: 10054780
    Abstract: A microscope including an imaging objective for imaging a sample on a detector and means for illuminating the sample with a light sheet in the focus plane of the imaging objective. The illumination means includes an illumination source which emits coherent light, and Bessel optics which generate at least two plane waves from the light beam and give propagation directions for the plane waves. The propagation direction of each of the plane waves encloses an acute angle with the focus plane in each instance, the magnitude of the acute angle being identical for each of the plane waves, so that the plane waves undergo constructive interference in the focus plane so that a light sheet is generated. Similarly, the illumination means can also include an optical element by which a rotationally symmetric Bessel beam is generated from the light beam for dynamic generation of a light sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Helmut Lippert, Ralf Wolleschensky, Alexander Rohrbach, Florian Fahrbach
  • Patent number: 10048478
    Abstract: An optical transmission system configured to image a selected region of a sample arranged in a first medium in an object plane on or in a sample carrier, which includes plane-parallel plate, from the object plane into an intermediate image plane in a second medium. The plane-parallel plate is located between the optical transmission system and the sample during the imaging. The object plane and the intermediate image plane form an angle between 0° and 90° with an optical axis of the transmission system. The optical transmission system is positioned relative to region of the sample such that the sample is located within the focal length of the lens of the optical transmission system closest to the sample. The intermediate image plane and the object plane are located on the same side of the optical transmission system, and the intermediate image is a virtual image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Artur Degen, Michael Gölles, Jörg Siebenmorgen, Helmut Lippert, Thomas Kalkbrenner, Ingo Kleppe, Matthias Wald, Lars-Christian Wittig, Wolfgang Singer, Ralf Wolleschensky
  • Publication number: 20180196245
    Abstract: The invention relates to the high-resolution spectrally selective scanning microscopy of a sample. The sample is excited with illumination radiation in order to emit fluorescence radiation such that the illumination radiation is bundled into an illumination spot in or on the sample. The illumination spot is diffraction-limited in at least one spatial direction and has a minimum extension in said spatial direction. Fluorescence radiation emitted from the illumination spot is imaged into a diffraction image lying on an image plane in a diffraction-limited manner and is detected with a spatial resolution which resolves a structure of a diffraction image of the fluorescence radiation emitted from the illumination spot. The illumination spot is moved into different scanning positions relative to the sample in increments which are smaller than half the minimum extension of the illumination spot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2016
    Publication date: July 12, 2018
    Inventors: Ingo KLEPPE, Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY, Ralf NETZ, Yauheni NOVIKAU
  • Patent number: 9995919
    Abstract: A method for the optical detection of an illuminated specimen, wherein the illuminating light impinges in a spatially structured manner in at least one plane on the specimen and several images of the specimen are acquired by a detector in different positions of the structure on the specimen. An optical sectional image and/or an image with enhanced resolution is then calculated. The method includes generating a diffraction pattern in the direction of the specimen in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to the pupil. A phase plate with regions of varying phase delays is dedicated to the diffraction pattern in or near the pupil of the objective lens or in a plane conjugate to said pupil, and different phase angles of the illuminating light are set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Michael Schwertner, Ralf Wolleschensky, Michael Kempe
  • Patent number: 9989754
    Abstract: A light scanning microscope with an illumination module switchable between an illumination with m number of spots and an illumination with n number of spots, a deflecting unit which moves the m or n spots in a predetermined sample region, and a detector module for confocal and spectrally resolved detection of the sample radiation. The detector module has a confocal diaphragm unit, a splitting unit which is arranged downstream of the confocal diaphragm unit, a detector, and an imaging unit which images the partial beams on the detector in a spatially separated manner. The confocal diaphragm unit is switchable between a confocal diaphragm with exactly m apertures for m-spot illumination and a confocal diaphragm with n apertures for n-spot illumination. The splitting unit has a first beam path for m-spot illumination and a second beam path for n-spot illumination. The splitting unit is switchable between the two beam paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Tiemo Anhut, Daniel Schwedt, Ralf Wolleschensky, Lars-Christian Wittig, Ulrich Preiβer
  • Publication number: 20180149854
    Abstract: An arrangement and method for light sheet microscopy. The arrangement has an illumination apparatus for producing a light sheet for illuminating a stripe of a specimen, and has a detection apparatus for detecting fluorescence radiation emitted by the specimen. The recording speed of the arrangement is increased by an illumination apparatus which is configured to produce at least one further light sheet that is arranged parallel to a first light sheet for illuminating a further stripe of the specimen, and advantageously by a detection apparatus which is configured for the simultaneous detection of the fluorescence radiation excited by the light sheets that are arranged parallel to one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2016
    Publication date: May 31, 2018
    Applicant: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Jörg Siebenmorgen, Helmut LIPPERT, Thomas KALKBRENNER, Ingo Kleppe, Ralf Wolleschensky
  • Patent number: 9927226
    Abstract: A method and a configuration for the depth-resolved optical detection of a specimen, in which a specimen or a part of the specimen is scanned by means of preferably linear illumination. The illumination of the specimen is periodically structured in the focus in at least one spatial direction. Light coming from the specimen is detected and images of the specimen are generated. At least one optical sectional image and/or one image with enhanced resolution is calculated through the specimen. Images are repeatedly acquired and sectional images are repeatedly blended while changing the orientation of the linear illumination relative to the specimen and/or spatial intervals between lines exposed to detection light from the illuminated specimen region are generated for the line-by-line non-descanned detection on an area detector or a camera and/or, during a scan, light is further deflected upstream of the detector through the line in the direction of the scan of the specimen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Michael Kempe, Ralf Wolleschensky, Michael Schwertner
  • Patent number: 9885860
    Abstract: A method for high-resolution 3D fluorescence microscopy, wherein fluorescence emitters in a sample are repeatedly excited to emit fluorescence, and still images are produced of the sample by means of a microscope. The microscope has an imaging beam path with an optical resolution and a focal plane, wherein the fluorescence emitters are excited to emit fluorescence in such a manner that at least a subset of the fluorescence emitters is isolated in each still image so that the images of these fluorescence emitters can be separated in the still images within the optical resolution. The positions of the fluorescence emitters are localized in the generated still images, from the images of the isolated fluorescence emitters, with a location accuracy exceeding the optical resolution, and a high-resolution composite image is generated therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Kalkbrenner, Ralf Wolleschensky
  • Patent number: 9864182
    Abstract: A microscope and method for high resolution scanning microscopy of a sample, having: an illumination device for the purpose of illuminating the sample, an imaging device for the purpose of scanning at least one point or linear spot across the sample and of imaging the point or linear spot into a diffraction-limited, static single image below a reproduction scale in a detection plane. A detector device for detecting the single image in the detection plane for various scan positions is also provided. An evaluation device for the purpose of evaluating a diffraction structure of the single image for the scan positions is provided. The detector device has a detector array which has pixels and which is larger than the single image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Ingo Kleppe, Ralf Netz, Thomas Kalkbrenner, Ralf Wolleschensky, Yauheni Novikau
  • Patent number: 9791686
    Abstract: In a microscope for high resolution scanning microscopy of a sample, said microscope comprising—an illumination device for illuminating the sample, —an imaging device for scanning at least one point spot or line spot across the sample and for imaging the point spot or line spot into a diffraction-limited, stationary single image with magnification into a detection plane, —a detector device for detecting the single image in the detection plane for different scanning positions with a spatial resolution, which, taking into consideration the magnification, is at least twice as high as a full width at half maximum of the diffraction-limited single image, —an evaluation device for evaluating a diffraction pattern of the single image for the scanning positions from data of the detector device and for generating an image of the sample, said image having a resolution that is increased beyond the diffraction limit, provision is made for—the detector device to have a detector array, which has pixels and is larger than t
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GMBH
    Inventors: Ralf Wolleschensky, Ingo Kleppe, Ralf Netz, Christoph Nieten
  • Publication number: 20170280076
    Abstract: The invention relates to a device and a method for imaging a sample (2) arranged in an object plane (1). Such a device comprises an optical relay system (3) which images an area of the sample (2) from the object plane (1) into an intermediate image plane (4). Here, the object plane (1) and the intermediate image plane (4) with an optical axis (5) of the relay system (3) include an angle different from 90°. The optical relay system (3) is composed of several lenses. The device also comprises an optical imaging system (6) with an objective, the optical axis (7) of which lies perpendicularly on the intermediate image plane (4) and which is focused on the intermediate image plane (4), with the result that the object plane (1) can be imaged undistorted onto a detector (8).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Publication date: September 28, 2017
    Applicant: CARL ZEISS MICROSCOPY GMBH
    Inventors: Helmut Lippert, Thomas Kalkbrenner, Ingo Kleppe, Joerg Siebenmorgen, Ralf Wolleschensky
  • Publication number: 20170184834
    Abstract: In a microscope for high resolution scanning microscopy of a sample, said microscope comprising—an illumination device for illuminating the sample, —an imaging device for scanning at least one point spot or line spot across the sample and for imaging the point spot or line spot into a diffraction-limited, stationary single image with magnification into a detection plane, —a detector device for detecting the single image in the detection plane for different scanning positions with a spatial resolution, which, taking into consideration the magnification, is at least twice as high as a full width at half maximum of the diffraction-limited single image, —an evaluation device for evaluating a diffraction pattern of the single image for the scanning positions from data of the detector device and for generating an image of the sample, said image having a resolution that is increased beyond the diffraction limit, provision is made for—the detector device to have a detector array, which has pixels and is larger than t
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2017
    Publication date: June 29, 2017
    Inventors: Ralf WOLLESCHENSKY, Ingo Kleppe, Ralf Netz, Christoph Nieten
  • Publication number: 20170168284
    Abstract: An optical device comprises a light source and a detector, and also a sample holder, which is configured to fix an object in the optical path of light. A scanning optical unit is configured, for a multiplicity of scanning positions, in each case selectively to direct light incident from different angular ranges from the object onto the detector. On the basis of a three-dimensional light field represented by corresponding measurement data of the multiplicity of scanning positions, a spatially resolved imaging of the object is generated, said imaging comprising at least two images from different object planes of the object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventors: Wolfgang Singer, Ralf Wolleschensky, Ingo Kleppe, Toufic Jabbour, Michael Gölles, Kai Wicker