SPECTRALLY ENCODED CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY

An endoscope-compatible, submicrometer-resolution scanning confocal mi croscopy imaging system is presented. This approach, spectrally encode d confocal microscopy (SECM), uses a quasi-monochromatic light source and a transmission diffraction grating to detect the reflectivity simu ltaneously at multiple points along a transverse line within the sampl e. Since this method does not require fast spatial scanning within the probe, the equipment can be miniaturized and incorporated into a cath eter or endoscope. Confocal images of an electron microscope grid were acquired with SECM to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.