Multi-beam confocal microscopy based on a custom image sensor with focal-plane pinhole array effect.

Multi-beam confocal microscopy without any physical pinhole was demonstrated. As a key device, a custom CMOS image sensor realizing a focal-plane pinhole array effect by special pixel addressing and discarding of the unwanted photocarriers was developed. The axial resolution in the confocal mode measured by FWHM for a planar mirror was 8.9 µm, which showed that the confocality has been achieved with the proposed CMOS image sensor.