Macroconfocal

adjectiveStandard termPhotonics

Describes an optical system that applies confocal depth sectioning to a large field of view.

Describes an imaging setup that applies the depth discrimination of confocal microscopy to a macroscopic field of view. These systems use objective lenses with low magnification and high numerical aperture to scan massive samples. This allows researchers to capture 3D optical sections of whole objects without stitching together multiple microscopic images.

Heard on the job

Put the entire wafer under the macroconfocal lens so we can map the surface topology in one pass.

Insider tip

Standard confocal microscopes struggle with large samples because of their tiny field of view, making macroconfocal systems essential for whole object imaging.