SPECTROSCOPICALLY CORRELATED LIGHT SCANNING MICROSCOPY

The present invention relates to a process for producing and correlating light microscope images and spectroscopic data resolved according to wavelength of a sample by scanning individual elements of the sample surface to be imaged once or twice with a confocal scanning light microscope, launching a portion of the light from the imaging beam path into a spectrometer and correlating the image data with the spectroscopic data by storing the spectroscopic data in a two-dimensional area, with one dimension being used to store the measured spectrum of the individual elements and the second dimension being activated by means of the light intensity diffusely reflected by the scanned elements or by means of a criterion obtained from the total data of the sample image by image processing. The advantage of said process is that the potential of a confocal scanning light microscope and of the various spectroscopic processes may be fully exploited.