ABSTRACT
A confocal microscope consists of a small light source, a condenser, objective lenses, and a detector (Fig. 1). The light source illuminates a small threedimensional spot within an object such as skin. This illuminated spot is then imaged onto the detector through a small aperture. The small aperture allows only light that originates from the focused illumination spot to be detected, while the light that originates away from the spot is rejected (1). The light source, illuminated spot, and detection aperture are in optically conjugate focal locations and thus this arrangement is called ‘‘confocal.’’ To create a two-dimensional image, the illumination spot is raster-scanned over the area of interest within the object and the image is produced point-by-point (i.e., pixel-by-pixel). Due to the confocal arrangement, the detected image is of a thin two-dimensional plane. This process is known as ‘‘optical sectioning:’’
Optimum parameters for confocal optical sectioning to be comparable to the 5mm-sectioning of routine histology have been determined under experimental conditions (1). These parameters are presented in Table 1.
