A method for analyzing porosity of a particle and a medium disposed in the porosity of the particle. A video-holographic microscope is provided to analyze interference patterns produced by providing a laser source to output a collimated beam, scattering the collimated beam off a particle and interacting with an unscattered beam to generate the interference pattern for analyzation to determine the refractive index of the particle and a medium disposed in the porosity of the particle to measure porosity and the medium.

A method for identifying a state of a cell contained in a sample, including: illuminating the sample using a light source by producing an incident light wave propagating toward the sample; then acquiring, using a matrix-array photodetector, an image of the sample, the sample being placed between the light source and the matrix-array photodetector such that the matrix-array photodetector is exposed to a light wave resulting from interference between the incident light wave and a diffraction wave produced by each cell; applying a numerical reconstruction algorithm to the image acquired by the matrix-array photodetector, to estimate a characteristic quantity of the light wave reaching the matrix-array detector, at a plurality of distances from the matrix-array photodetector. The value of the characteristic quantity, or its variation as a function of distance, allows the state of the cell to be determined from among predetermined states.

Provided is a digital holographic imaging apparatus, comprising: an illumination portion (10) having an illumination light emission surface (32i) for emitting coherent light of a specific wavelength as illumination light toward an object (1) side relative to the illumination light emission surface (32i), and a reference light emission surface (32r) for emitting the coherent light, as reference light, in a direction opposite to the illumination light; and an image sensor (50) located on the reference light emission surface (32r) side of the illumination portion (10) and imaging an interference pattern between object light having been modulated by the object (1) and passed through the illumination portion (10) and the reference light of the illumination light, the image sensor (50) having a pixel array (51) comprising two-dimensionally aligned pixels.

Provided is a digital holographic image-taking apparatus, including: an illumination portion (10) having a light emission surface (14D) for emitting illumination light toward an object (1), the illumination light having a specific wavelength in a coherent plane waveform; and an image sensor (50) having an pixel array (51) including two-dimensionally arranged pixels, the image sensor (50) capturing an interference pattern generated based on the illumination light having acted on the object (1), in which the following conditional expression is satisfied: 0.0000001<Z.sup.2/S<16, where S represents the area of the light emission surface (14D), and Z represents the distance from the light emission surface (14D) to the pixel array (51).

Disclosed are optical interrogation apparatus that can produce lens-free images using an optoelectronic sensor array to generate a holographic image of sample objects, such as microorganisms in a sample. Also disclosed are methods of detecting and/or identifying microorganisms in a biological sample, such as microorganisms present in low levels. Also disclosed are methods of using systems to detect microorganisms in a biological sample, such as microorganisms present in low levels. In addition or as an alternative, the methods of using systems may identify microorganisms present in a sample and/or determine antimicrobial susceptibility of such microorganisms.

Systems, methods, and computer program products for analyzing a sample volume. One or more holographs of the sample volume are generated. Each holograph includes a plurality of pixels, and each pixel has an intensity. Information is extracted from the holographs by analyzing the pixels to determine a property of the sample volume without first reconstructing photographs from the holograph. Methods of extracting the information include determining a dispersion factor for the intensity of pixels, and extracting holographic features from the plurality of pixels that belong to a class of shapes including one or more diffraction patterns.

A measuring device according to the present technology includes a light emitting unit configured to emit light to a fluid, a light receiving unit configured to perform photoelectric conversion for incident light using an electron avalanche phenomenon by a plurality of pixels to obtain a light reception signal, and a control unit configured to perform processing of detecting a target object in the fluid on the basis of the light reception signal and execute an imaging operation of the target object on condition that the target object is detected.

A method for identifying a particle contained in a sample, including illuminating the sample using a light source, the light source producing an incident light wave propagating toward the sample, then acquiring, using a matrix-array photodetector, an image of the sample, the sample being placed between the light source and the photodetector such that the matrix-array photodetector is exposed to a light wave that is the result of interference between the incident light wave and a diffraction wave produced by each particle. The method further includes applying a numerical reconstruction algorithm to the image acquired by the photodetector, to estimate a characteristic quantity of the light wave reaching the detector, at a plurality of distances from the detector. The variation in the characteristic quantity as a function of distance allows the particle to be identified.

A flow cytometer includes a capillary having a sample channel; at least one vibration producing transducer coupled to the capillary, the at least one vibration producing transducer being configured to produce an acoustic signal inducing acoustic radiation pressure within the sample channel to acoustically concentrate particles flowing within a fluid sample stream in the sample channel; and an interrogation source having a violet laser and a blue laser, the violet and blue lasers being configured to interact with at least some of the acoustically concentrated particles to produce an output signal.

In order to quantitatively characterize biological objects, for example individual cells, a stimulus is applied to a biological object (8) in a contactless fashion. A measurement and a further measurement are performed on the biological object (8) in order to ascertain a response of the biological object (8) to the stimulus, wherein the measurement and the further measurement comprise detecting Raman scattering on and/or in the biological object (8) and/or capturing data using digital holographic microinterferometry (DHMI). The biological object (8) is characterized according to a result of the measurement and is sorted if needed. The stimulus can be applied by means of a laser beam that creates optical tweezers or an optical trap, by means of ultrasonic waves or an electric or magnetic radio frequency field.