= Confocal microscopy
{wiki}
<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>. <Introductory Confocal Concepts by Nikon Instruments Inc.>[Introductory Confocal Concepts, opening paragraphs and Fig. 2: out-of-focus fluorescence and optical sections]{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 https://patents.google.com/patent/US3013467A/en[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. <Microscopy apparatus by Marvin Minsky>[Front-page filing/publication metadata; description, Optical System, Fig. 1; Stage Scanning System]{ref}
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