High quality objective using air bearing

Claim 1

A high quality objective, comprising (A) a cylinder, (B) two retainers, each retainer situated at an opposite end of said cylinder, (C) at least one casing situated in said cylinder between said two retainers, (D) an imaging optical component within said casing, (E) a ring-shaped air chamber between said cylinder and said casing, of minimum width at a center circumferential line of said casing and of maximum width at an end of said casing, (F) a plurality of radial air inlets in said cylinder arranged equidistantly from one another, each air inlet directed to the center circumferential line of said casing, (G) a plurality of radial air outlets in said cylinder, arranged equidistantly from one another and axially spaced from said air inlets (F), (H) a compressed air supply engaged with said air inlets (F) and air outlets (G) to balance the optical component (D) with respect to an optical axis of said objective, (I) elastic means disposed between one of said retainers (B) and an end of a casing (C) within said cylinder (A), (J) an intermediate air chamber disposed within said cylinder between said other retainer and an end of a casing opposite the end contacting said elastic means and engaged with said ring-shaped air chamber (E), and (K) a plurality of air inlets disposed within said latter retainer (J) concentrically around a body axis of said cylinder (A) equidistantly from one another, and engaged with said compressed air supply on one side of said latter retainer (J) and with said intermediate air chamber (J) on the other side of said latter retainer (J).