Chromatic confocal microscopy using supercontinuum light.

We report on a novel chromatic confocal microscope system using supercontinuum white light generated from a photonic crystal fiber. The chromatic aberration of a pair of singlet lenses is employed to focus the different spectral components of the supercontinuum at different depth levels. An effective depth scanning range of 7 microm is demonstrated. The corresponding depth resolution is measured to be less than 1 microm (FWHM).