A confocal fiber-coupled single-lens theta microscope

A confocal theta microscope using a single water-immersion objective lens is described. The system is based on the Zeiss Axioplan universal microscope, such that the illumination light is coupled into, and the detected light out of, the microscope optics via optical fibers attached to the reflector slider of the microscope. Conventional wide-field, laser-scanning confocal, confocal theta, and 4Pi-confocal theta microscopy modes are available with the system. As the design can be easily adapted to other microscopes, objective lenses, and wavelengths, it allows confocal theta techniques to be implemented in many standard systems. The design constraints and specifications for the microscope are given, as well as a demonstration of its performance.