Fiber-optic laser scanning confocal microscope suitable for fluorescence imaging.

A fiber-optic laser scanning confocal microscope that utilizes a single-mode optical fiber as both the source and the detection aperture is described. The design of a compact, portable scanning head that is robust in alignment and fits simply to standard light microscopes is presented. Resolution performance and imaging capability are demonstrated for several objective lenses in both reflectance and fluorescence modes of operation. This microscope achieves performance that is comparable with that of conventional bulk optical laser scanning confocal microscopes while offering flexibility in usage forbidden to such instruments.