Divided-aperture technique for fluorescence confocal microscopy through scattering media.

We present a diffraction analysis for image formation in fluorescence confocal microscopy with divided apertures. The three-dimensional optical transform function is given, and axial resolution and transverse resolution are investigated. The results show that the employment of a divided-aperture technique in fluorescence confocal microscopy can enhance the rejection of background scattering. In addition, the axial resolution and transverse resolution can be improved by adjusting the width of the divider strip. For a given detector size, an optimum value of the divider strip width is given to obtain the best axial resolution or transverse resolution. The integrated intensity and signal-to-background ratio are also discussed.