HIGH-RESOLUTION CONFOCAL MICROSCOPE

A method for the high-resolution scanning microscopy of a specimen where the specimen is illuminated with illuminating radiation such that the illuminating radiation is focused to a diffraction-limited illuminating spot at a point in or on the specimen. The point is projected in a diffraction-limited manner in a diffraction image onto a flat panel detector having pixels. The flat panel detector, owing to the pixels thereof, have a spatial resolution which resolves a diffraction structure of the diffraction image. The point is shifted relative to the specimen into different scanning positions by an increment which is smaller than the diameter of the illuminating spot. The flat panel detector is read, and, from the data of the flat panel detector and from the scanning positions assigned to these data, a 3D image of the specimen is generated. The 3D image has a resolution which is greater than a resolution limit of the projection, and the pixels of the flat panel detector are divided into groups which have a central group lying on an optical axis and a further group which surrounds the central group in a ring. A pre-calculated raw image is calculated for each group and the pre-calculated raw images are unfolded three-dimensionally to generate the image of the specimen.