According to the present invention, a light source and one pixel unit formed of at least one light reception element among a light reception element array (photodiode array) are provided in a one-to-one correspondence, and a light beam is detected from at least one light reception element (one pixel unit) corresponding to the light source, only when the light source emits light. Therefore, only one collimated or further substantially condensed light beam is incident into “a foreign substance/defect” in an object to be inspected, and only scattered light can be separated by the light reception element and be detected. Accordingly, even when an object to be inspected has a light scattering property and is thick, “a foreign substance/defect” can be detected with a good signal to noise ratio (crosstalk is extremely low).

Systems and methods for uniquely identifying fluid-phase products by endowing them with fingerprints composed of dispersed colloidal particles, and by reading out those fingerprints on demand using Total Holographic Characterization. A library of chemically inert colloidal particles is developed that can be dispersed into soft materials, the stoichiometry of the mixture encoding user-specified information, including information about the host material. Encoded information then can be recovered by high-speed analysis of holographic microscopy images of the dispersed particles. Specifically, holograms of individual colloidal spheres are analyzed with predictions of the theory of light scattering to measure each sphere's radius and refractive index, thereby building up the distribution of particle properties one particle at a time. A complete analysis of a colloidal fingerprint requires several thousand single-particle holograms and can be completed in ten minutes.

An apparatus for analyzing urine, including: a feeding and discharging device that delivers a quantity of urine into an analysis chamber of a urine test strip and discharges a quantity of urine from an analysis chamber of a urine test strip, the analysis chamber having an analysis zone. The feeding and discharging device includes a movably mounted feeding and/or discharging element for delivering a quantity of urine into a delivery zone in the analysis chamber and/or discharging a quantity of urine from a discharge zone in the analysis chamber. A detection device detects an at least sectoral variation of an optically detectable parameter, which varies in an optically detectable manner in accordance with the composition of a quantity of urine that contacts the analysis zone and produces detection data describing at least one optically detected parameter in the analysis zone or a variation of such a parameter.

Methods and systems for detecting the presence of irregularities in milk, and for assessing a health state of a lactating mammal, are provided. A sample of milk is illuminated with a light beam. Scattering data resulting from an interaction between the light beam and the sample of milk is collected. The scattering data is processed to detect the presence or absence of light scattered at a predetermined angle relative to a normal orientation, for instance to determine at least one characteristic of the sample of milk. Based on the presence or absence of light, the presence of irregularities in the sample of milk can be determined, for instance to assess the health state of the lactating mammal based on the at least one characteristic of the sample of milk.

Provided is a dynamic light scattering type particle size distribution measuring apparatus 100 capable of accurately measure the particle sizes of a sample obtained from slurry or the like. The dynamic light scattering type particle size distribution measuring apparatus 100 is configured to include: a filter member 6 that is interposed between any adjacent two of a light source 4, a cell 2, and a photodetector 5 and attenuates light passing therethrough; and an information processing device 8 that measures a particle size distribution multiple times with time and combines particle size distributions obtained at respective times of measurement to thereby calculate the particle size distribution of the whole of portions of the sample introduced at the respective times of measurement. In addition, the filter member 6 is also configured to be changeable to one having a different attenuation level at every time of measurement.

A fluid characterization measuring instrument is disclosed that comprises a sample vessel for a bulk complex sample fluid having a capacity that is substantially larger than a domain size of the complex sample fluid and that is sufficiently large to cause bulk scattering effects to substantially exceed surface effects for the complex fluid sample, a coherent light source positioned to illuminate the bulk complex sample fluid in the sample vessel and a first fibre having a first end positioned to receive backscattered light from the sample after it has interacted with the sample. The first fibre can also be positioned close enough to an optical axis of the coherent light source and to the sample vessel to substantially decrease a contribution of multiply scattered light in the backscattered light. The instrument can further comprise a first photon-counting detector positioned to receive the backscattered light from a second end of the fibre, correlation logic responsive to the first photon-counting detector and single-scattering fluid property analysis logic responsive to the correlation logic and operative to derive at least one fluid property for the sample fluid.

A system for the identification of micro-organisms includes an irradiation unit adapted to sequentially provide coherent electromagnetic radiation of one or more wavelengths along a common optical path. A holder is adapted to retain a substrate having a surface adapted for growth of a micro-organism colony. A beamsplitter is adapted to direct the coherent electromagnetic radiation from the common optical path towards the retained substrate. An imager is arranged opposite the beamsplitter from the retained substrate and is adapted to obtain images of backward-scattered light patterns from the micro-organism colony irradiated by the respective wavelengths of the directed coherent electromagnetic radiation. Some examples provide radiation of multiple wavelengths and include an imager arranged optically downstream of the retained substrate to obtain images of forward-scattered light patterns from the micro-organism colony irradiated by the wavelengths of radiation. Organism identification methods are also described.

A smoke detector comprising an enclosure communicating with an external environment, within the enclosure a light source illuminating a detection volume in a first wavelength band and a light-sensor responding to light from the sensing volume in a second wavelength band. The detector is configured to sense photo-luminescent fire products, particularly polyaromatic compounds, and actuate an alarm when signal levels indicate a dangerous/fire condition is present. The photo-luminescence detector may be combined with optical scatter or other fire detectors to improve discrimination between fires and false alarm sources.

An instrument for measuring characteristics of particles. A particle sample is introduced into a sample cell. The sample particles are subjected to gravitational or centrifugal forces wherein particle motion is dependent upon particle characteristics. The particles are illuminated by an illumination device to produce light scattered by the particles. The light is detected by at least one detector. Characteristics of the particles are determined from the detector signals.

A measuring apparatus is provided with: an irradiator configured to irradiate fluid with light; a first light receiver configured to receive a forward scatter component of scattered light scattered by the fluid; a second light receiver configured to receive a backscatter component of the scattered light; a third light receiver configured to receive a side scatter component of the scattered light; and an outputting device configured to output fluid information about the fluid, which is obtained on the basis of light receiving signals of the first light receiver, the second light receiver, and the third light receiver. According to this measuring apparatus, it is possible to output accurate fluid information because of the use of the forward scatter component, the backscatter component, and the side scatter component of the scattered light.