Disclosed herein are magnetic nanoparticles, compositions and kits comprising the magnetic nanoparticles, methods of making the magnetic nanoparticles, and methods of using the magnetic nanoparticles to enrich biological targets.

A method and apparatus are disclosed for the collection of light scattered from a liquid sample contained within a multiwell plate for which evaporation from the wells is mitigated by the application of a barrier between the liquid sample and the environment. A vertical thermal gradient is applied across the vessel so that condensation is inhibited from forming on the interior surface of the barrier, thus permitting clear illumination of the sample for visual imaging, fluorescence studies and light scattering detection.

To enable the particle size distribution of a measurement target to be accurately measured regardless of the presence of a particle which is similar in shape to the measurement target and which is not the measurement target, a particle size distribution measuring device includes an image processing unit that receives image data obtained by capturing an image of a particle group including a first particle and a second particle of a type different from the first particle, at least the first particle being translucent; and a particle discriminating unit that discriminates whether a particle depicted in the image is the first particle or the second particle on the basis of light and dark regions that appear as a result of refraction of light passing through the particle.

An apparatus for particulate matter (PM) measurement includes a first light source to generate a first light beam and a second light source disposed at a first distance from the first light source to generate a second light beam in parallel to the first light beam to illuminate a PM. The apparatus further includes a first light detector to measure a first timing corresponding to a first self-mixing signal resulting from a reflection and/or back-scattering of the first light beam from a PM, and a second light detector to measure a second timing corresponding to a second self-mixing signal resulting from a reflection and/or back-scattering of the second light beam from the PM. A processor can determine a first velocity of the PM based on a spatial separation between centers of the first light beam and the second light beam and a temporal separation between the first timing and the second timing.

An automatic analysis apparatus includes a reaction vessel configured to contain a reaction liquid in which a measuring object and a reagent are mixed with each other, an irradiation unit configured to irradiate the reaction vessel with irradiation light as predetermined incident light polarization, a measurement unit configured to measure light emitted from the reaction vessel, and a processor configured to process a signal having a specific polarization component obtained from the measurement unit and to analyze the measuring object. The specific polarization component is determined based on the condition of the reaction liquid.

A method of characterising particles in a sample, comprising: obtaining a scattering measurement comprising a time series of measurements of scattered light from a detector, the scattered light produced by the interaction of an illuminating light beam with the sample; producing a corrected scattering measurement, comprising compensating for scattering contributions from contaminants by reducing a scattering intensity in at least some time periods of the scattering measurement; determining a particle characteristic from the corrected scattering measurement.

Apparatus and methods for determining information about at least one particle by measuring light scattered from the particles. Scattered light is combined with light from a light source to produce an optical interference signal utilizing a plurality of beam splitting functions. Scattered light signals are corrected for signal components which are not derived from particle scatter.

An apparatus of ultrafast particle dynamics measurement based on photon ensemble correlation spectroscopy include steps of: dispersing a particle sample to be detected; establishing a plurality of sampling volumes, and collecting dynamic scattered light signals in parallel; and constructing sample ensembles based on scattered signals of the sampling volumes, analyzing time correlations between the sample ensembles, and detecting particle dynamic characteristics. A period for a single measurement of particles according to the method can be in the range of several milliseconds to several tens of milliseconds, which is conducive to real-time detection. More accurate and reliable correlation characterization can be obtained by combining the detected complex-valued scattered signals with both amplitude and phase information. Furthermore, the particle detection is able to be spatially resolved, so as to achieve spatially resolved particle dynamic characteristics.

Disclosed herein is a method of characterizing particles in a sample. The method comprises illuminating the sample in a sample cell with a light beam, so as to produce scattered light by the interaction of the light beam with the sample; obtaining a time series of measurements of the scattered light from a single detector; determining, from the time series of measurements from the single detector, which measurements were taken at times when a large particle was contributing to the scattered light; determining a particle size distribution, including correcting for light scattered by the large particle.

A particle analyzer is intended to accurately obtain an aspect ratio and a major axis length or a minor axis length of particles being dispersed in a dispersion medium. The particle analyzer includes a polarization relationship value calculation section to calculate a polarization relationship value whose parameter is light intensity of two kinds of polarization components, an aspect ratio calculation section to calculate an aspect ratio from a polarization relationship value already obtained by the polarization relationship value calculation section by using a relationship between the polarization relationship value and the aspect ratio, a diffusion coefficient acquisition section to acquire a diffusion coefficient indicating the behavior of the particles in a sample, and an axis length calculation section to calculate a major axis length from the aspect ratio already calculated by the aspect ratio calculation section and the diffusion coefficient already acquired by the diffusion coefficient acquisition section, by using a relationship between the diffusion coefficient, the major axis length, and the aspect ratio.