A compact optical spectrometer for measuring hemoglobin parameters in whole blood includes an enclosed spectrometer housing having a light entrance port, a light input slit disposed on one side of a circuit board substrate and positioned adjacent to and aligned with the light entrance port, a light-array detector disposed on the one side of the circuit board substrate adjacent the light input slit, a light dispersing element disposed downstream from the light input slit and an achromatic lens disposed between the light input slit and the light dispersing element to direct the light from the input slit to the light dispersing element and to direct the dispersed light from the light dispersing element to the light-array detector.

An optical spectrometer for use in a COOx analyzer includes a spectrometer housing having an optical fiber housing end, a light-receiving input slit positioned adjacent the optical fiber housing end, a light dispersing element mounted to but spaced from the optical fiber housing end and positioned within an optical path along which light travels from the light-receiving input slit. The light dispersing element receives the light transmitted through the input slit and separates the light into a plurality of light beams, a light-array detector capable of receiving the plurality of light beams and converting the plurality of light beams into the electrical signal, an achromatic lens positioned in the optical path to direct the light from the input slit to the light dispersing element and to direct the plurality of light beams reflected from the light dispersing element onto the light-array detector, and a thermal-compensating means for the spectrometer housing.

A method for observing biological species on a culture medium contained in a container having at least one translucent face, the method including the steps of: a) directing a light beam onto one portion of the translucent face, so as to define at least one illuminated region and at least one non-illuminated region of the face; and b) acquiring an image of a portion of the surface of the culture medium illuminated by the light beam, the acquisition being carried out through at least one of the non-illuminated regions of the translucent face and along an optical acquisition axis forming a non-zero angle (a) with the direction of propagation of the light beam.

A device and method for expediting spectral measurement in metrological activities during semiconductor device fabrication through interferometric spectroscopy of white light illumination during calibration, overlay, and recipe creation.

Various embodiments for a multi-focal selective illumination microscopy (SIM) system for generating multi-focal patterns of a sample are disclosed. The multi-focal SIM system performs a focusing, scaling and summing operation on each generated multi-focal pattern in a sequence of multi-focal patterns that completely scan the sample to produce a high resolution composite image.

Methods for detecting defects on the surface of a sheet of material include collimating a beam of light and intersecting the collimated beam of light with a beam splitter. The beam splitter directs a first portion of the intersected beam of collimated light to illuminate a first surface of the sheet, wherein a first portion of the light illuminating the first surface is reflected and a second portion of the illuminating light is scattered by a defect. The reflected and scattered light is received with a first lens element that directs the reflected and scattered light to an inverse aperture. The reflected light is blocked by the inverse aperture and the scattered light is transmitted by the inverse aperture. The scattered light transmitted by the inverse aperture is directed with a second lens element to an imaging device.

A chemical measurement device for determining the concentration of given chemical in a given fluid has at least one LED light source and at least one light detector. The given chemical has a light absorption curve with a peak, and the at least one LED light source and at least one light detector are configured to collaborate to produce two light signals having peak wavelengths between about 5 nm and 35 nm apart. The two light signal peak wavelengths are in the ultraviolet region with wavelengths beyond the light absorption curve peak. The light signal peak wavelengths, however, also are before the light absorption curve is negligible. The device also has a concentration calculator operatively coupled with the at least one light detector. The concentration calculator is configured to compare the two light signals to produce a concentration signal representing the concentration of the given chemical in the given fluid.

A detecting apparatus includes a container, and a detecting device including a transmitting module and a receiving module. The transmitting module includes a light-emitting element provided at a first point of the container and operable to transmit a photo signal to propagate toward the container along an optical path. The receiving module includes a light-receiving element provided at a second point of the container and configured to receive the photo signal transmitted through the container. The receiving module is operable to determine whether a substance is present within the container based on receipt of the photo signal. An imaginary tangent plane tangent to the first point is not parallel to an imaginary tangent plane tangent to the second point.

A method is disclosed for spatial resolution tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) imaging. The method includes physically separating a light excitation region from a Raman signal generation region on a remote-excitation tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (RE-TERS) probe. Also disclosed is a method of fabricating a remote-excitation tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) probe, and a system for spatial resolution tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) imaging. The system includes an atomic force microscopy-tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (AFM-TERS) system having a RE-TERS probe having a conical tip tapering to a silver nanowire tip (AgNW tip), a silver nanocrystal (AgNC) attached to a side wall of a nanowire, a laser configured to propagate excited surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) along the nanowire, the nanowire (NW) configured to generate compressed excited surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), and wherein the conical tip of the nanowire is configured to generate a nano-sized hot spot at a tip apex for TERS excitation.

An optical gas concentration measurement apparatus is disclosed. The optical gas concentration measurement apparatus includes a thermally insulated enclosure that has a gas sample cell situated within. A thermally-insulating, light-guiding element passes through an access port of the thermally insulated enclosure and is configured to direct light from a light source outside of the thermally insulated enclosure to the gas sample cell. A light detector outside of the thermally insulated enclosure is optically coupled to the gas sample cell and an electronic assembly outside of the thermally insulated enclosure is configured to receive information from the light detector.