A system includes a method and apparatus suitable for measuring planar drop sizes in a liquid spray. Measurement may involve illuminating the spray with multiple lasers and measuring the scattered intensities at several view angles using linear arrays. The system may use inverse calculation of the measured scattered intensity to estimate the local drop sizes across the entire plane in a spray. The system includes radiation detectors containing sensing elements, a lens systems, and analog to digital conversion board to convert scattered intensities to drop sizes. In addition, the system may include choppers including at least two unique filters. The filters may be selectively placed in a path between the spray and the sensing elements. By selectively placing a single array may measure both a scattered intensity and an extinction of laser light emitted from the spray.

A system capable of measuring particulates includes: a nozzle formed in the shape of a tube; a light measurement unit constituted by a light source supplied as energy and a photodetector and is provided adjacent to the nozzle; a probe having a hollow shape and into which one end of the nozzle is inserted; a particle measurement unit provided adjacent to the light measurement unit to measure the particulates introduced through the nozzle; an evaluation model unit linked to the particle measurement unit to evaluate the volume of the particulates on the basis of software; and an evaluation process unit linked to the evaluation model unit to evaluate each of a volume size distribution of the particulates, an integration with respect to the size of each of the particulates and a time, and the volume concentration of the particulates. Other components are also included in the system.

The present invention is a sample analyzer 100 that makes it possible to accurately analyze a sample even when the sample is such as one in a state where particles are cross-linked, or one containing foreign bodies and that calculates an autocorrelation function from a detection signal obtained by irradiating a sample with inspection light L1, and from the autocorrelation function, analyzes the sample. In addition, the sample analyzer 100 includes: an autocorrelation function determination part 53 that determines whether or not the displacement amount of an autocorrelation function serving as a comparison target from an autocorrelation function serving as a reference is within a predetermined range; and a sample analysis part 54 that analyzes the sample with use of an autocorrelation function of which the displacement amount is determined by the autocorrelation function determination part 53 to be within the predetermined range.

A system for measuring a liquid sample comprising biological material, the system comprising an integrating light collector for collecting light and for at least partially containing the sample; a light source for introducing light in the integrating light collector; a signal generator or modulator configured to cause a known modulation of the light output by the light source; a phase-sensitive detector for detecting scattered light in the integrating light collector; at least one of an exit port to allow un-scattered light to exit the integrating light collector, a beam dump, or a baffle arranged to absorb unscattered light; and a processor configured to analyse the detected modulated light to determine changes in the detected modulated light as a function of time thereby to determine at least one of: drug susceptibility of the biological material; a change in a number of cells in the sample; a change in cell state; a change in the biological material.

A system for measuring a sample comprising: an integrating sphere light collector (12) for collecting light and containing the sample; a light source (24) for introducing light in the integrating sphere light collector (12), wherein the light source (24) is operable to output light with a known modulation, preferably by using a signal generator (26); a detector (22) for detecting scattered light in the integrating sphere light collector (12) and generating a signal indicative of the scattered light, and a lock-in amplifier (28) operable use the known light modulation and the signal generated by the detector (22) to provide an output for analysis.

A particle characterisation apparatus comprising: a light source for illuminating a sample with a light beam; a detector arranged to detect scattered light from the interaction of the light beam with the sample; a focus tuneable lens arranged to collect the scattered light for the detector from a scattering volume and/or to direct the light beam into the sample, a sample holder with an opposed pair of electrodes and configured to hold a sample in position in a measurement volume between the pair of electrodes such that a planar surface of the sample is aligned orthogonally to the electrode surfaces, the planar surface adjacent to the scattering volume, wherein adjustment of the focus tuneable lens results in adjustment of the relative position of the planar surface and the scattering volume by moving the scattering volume.

Provided herein are particle detection systems, and related methods configured to characterize a liquid sample, comprising: a first probe configured to determine a first parameter set of a plurality of first particles in a liquid sample, the first particles characterized by a size characteristic selected from a first size range; wherein the first parameter set comprises a first size distribution and a first concentration; and a second probe configured to determine a second parameter set of one or more second particles in the liquid sample, the second particles being characterized by a size characteristic selected from a second size range; wherein the second parameter set comprises a second size distribution and a second concentration.

A dynamic 3D light scattering particle size distribution measurement device includes a polarization splitter for generating an s laser beam with perpendicular polarization and a p laser beam with parallel polarization that travels parallel to and spaced apart from the s laser beam. A lens is used to focus the s laser beam and the p laser beam onto a common focus area inside a sample holder holding a sample whose particle size is to be measured. An s light intensity detector measures a time-resolved s light intensity from s backscattered light from the focus area. An s-polarisation filter allows perpendicularly polarized light to pass, resulting in s measuring light, and includes a light detector for time-resolved intensity measurements of the s measuring light. A p light intensity detector measures a time-resolved p light intensity detects p backscattered light from the focus area, and includes a p polarization filter that allows parallel polarized light to pass. A light detector provides for time-resolved intensity measurement of the p measuring light, and an evaluation unit automatically calculates the particle size distribution from the time-resolved p light intensity and the time-resolved s light intensity.

Speckle contrast method and system that discriminates photons based on their path length in tissue, the method comprising the steps of: directing light from a pulsed light into a sample by optical elements; synchronizing the time between the pulse injection to sample and the detection unit; collecting the photons that have travelled through the sample by optics, and conveying the photons of a single or a limited number of speckles from the sample to one or more detection elements; time-tagging photons thanks to the synchronization of the detector element and/or the time-tagging electronics with the laser pulse emission; estimating each photon time-of-flight by the difference between its time tag and the laser pulse emission; categorizing the detected photons based on the value of the time-of-flight in a certain number of time gates; measuring the speckle contrast

The invention relates to a method for detecting the presence of ice crystals in an environment, implemented by a detection device in relative motion with respect to said environment, said method comprising at least: an emission step, in which at least one optical radiation is emitted by the detection device into the environment; a reception step, in which at least a portion of the emitted optical radiation is received, a step of calculating a comparison signal, and a step of calculating the noise of the comparison signal, a thresholding step, in which the noise is compared to a defined threshold, a communication step, in which a signal indicating detection of the presence of ice crystals in the environment is transmitted when the noise is greater than the defined threshold.