also: きょうしょうてんレーザそうさがたけんびきょう
noun
confocal laser scanning microscope
Technical term for a type of optical microscope that uses a laser and a spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light, producing high-resolution images, especially in biology.
共焦点レーザー走査型顕微鏡を用いて、細胞内の蛍光タンパク質の分布を観察した。
We observed the distribution of fluorescent proteins inside the cell using a confocal laser scanning microscope.
A fluorescence microscope uses fluorescence to generate an image, but does not necessarily have the confocal pinhole that eliminates out-of-focus light. 共焦点レーザー走査型顕微鏡 is a specific type of fluorescence microscope with confocal optics.
An electron microscope uses a beam of electrons instead of light, achieving much higher resolution but requiring vacuum and special sample preparation. 共焦点レーザー走査型顕微鏡 works with living samples and visible light.
Compound of 共焦点 (confocal), レーザー (laser), 走査型 (scanning type), and 顕微鏡 (microscope). The term is a direct translation of the English 'confocal laser scanning microscope'.