 Confocal microscopy

Confocal microscopy forms an image by scanning a localized illumination spot and preferentially detecting light from the same small region. In a thick specimen emitting fluorescence, a conventional fluorescence microscope also collects a haze from material away from the selected optical focus. Confocal optical sectioning suppresses that haze, revealing structure at a chosen depth without cutting the specimen. The useful idea is a paired selection: where excitation occurs, and which emitted photons reach the photodetector. ^[ref]

The scope here is single-point, linear fluorescence imaging. Confocal microscopy can also use reflected light; its broader implementations need not all have the same scanning mechanism. The patent Microscopy apparatus, US3013467A, by Marvin Minsky describes a point source imaged onto a specimen, a second pinhole receiving its image, specimen scanning, and a synchronized display. It was filed on 7 November 1957 and published on 19 December 1961; the filing date should not be described as the grant date. This is evidence for that apparatus and those dates, rather than a claim that all later fluorescence instruments were already present in it. ^[ref]