Agile optical confocal microscopy instrument architectures for high flexibility imaging

Ideally, a no-moving parts fast and agile scanning confocal microscope system is required that can produce true real-time 3-D scans with precision and repeatability. In this paper, such agile optical confocal microsopy designs are proposed that enable high speed precise non-invasive 3-D imaging. These compact confocal microscopes can provide real-time pin-point focussed imaging to enable confocal slices in-vivo, thus greatly reducing motion artifacts. These microscopes can be modified into interferometric microscopes for phase contrast imaging. The proposed microscopes can also greatly improve confocal fluorescence imaging as needed for cancer detection. An ultracompact confocal probe tip connected to a single ultra-thin fiber is another design option allowing flexibility for usage in tight cavities.