Optical scanning sensor system with submicron resolution

In this work, autofocus and optical scanning technologies are brought together in the design of a simplified scanning microscope. The developed system uses an autofocus sensor based on the Foucault knife-edge principle and piezo-based stages for scanning the samples in axial and lateral directions. It is built with a reduced number of components and designed to offer a simple set-up for the analysis of optical aberrations. The traditional way of addressing optical aberrations in scanning system is to improve the optical system such that it works as a paraxial lens. Breaking this paradigm and observing the optics as part of a complex system, it is possible to use simpler optics and correct the resultant errors computationally. These errors are systematic and, as long as they can be measured and modelled, they can be predicted and corrected. This way, the design of the system becomes more flexible and the task of error handling can be divided between optics optimization and computational correction, reducing overall size and weight, raising system dynamics and reducing costs.