An optical cell for performing light spectroscopy (including absorbance, fluorescence and scattering measurements) on a liquid sample in microfluidic devices is disclosed. The optical cell comprises an inlaid sheet having an opaque material inlaid in a clear material, and a sensing channel that crosses the clear material and the opaque material provides a fluidic path for the liquid sample and an optical path for probe light. Integral optical windows crossing a clear-opaque material interface permit light coupling into and out of the sensing channel, and thus light transmission through the sensing channel is almost entirely isolated from background light interference. A microfluidic chip comprising one or more optical cells is also disclosed. The optical cells may have different lengths of sensing channels, and may be optically and fluidly coupled. A method of manufacturing an optical cell in a microfluidic chip is also disclosed.

An optical property measurement method includes: measuring, by first measurement, optical intensity of backscattering from a measurement target object when light is beamed to the measurement target object; calculating an attenuation coefficient in a depth direction of the measurement target object based on a measurement result of the first measurement; measuring, by second measurement that is different from the first measurement, optical intensity of backscattering from the measurement target object when light is beamed to the measurement target object; and calculating a scattering coefficient and an absorption coefficient in the depth direction of the measurement target object based on a measurement result of the second measurement by using a value of the calculated attenuation coefficient as a limiting condition.

Apparatus and methods for complex imaging reflectometry and refractometry using at least partially coherent light. Quantitative images yield spatially-dependent, local material information about a sample of interest. These images may provide material properties such as chemical composition, the thickness of chemical layers, dopant concentrations, mixing between layers of a sample, reactions at interfaces, etc. An incident beam of VUV wavelength or shorter is scattered off of a sample and imaged at various angles, wavelengths, and/or polarizations. The power of beam is also measured. This data is used to obtain images of a sample's absolute, spatially varying, complex reflectance or transmittance, which is then used to determine spatially-resolved, depth-dependent sample material properties.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, is used to accurately identify surface irregularities on a veneer surface. A grade is then assigned to the veneer based, at least in part, on the detected irregularities. In one embodiment, the veneer is then provided to an improved veneer stacking system that produces more consistently graded veneer stacks and safer veneer stacks, is less expensive to operate, and is far safer than currently available methods and systems for full veneer sheet, veneer strip, and partial veneer sheet stacking.

A new liquid flow cell assembly for light scattering measurements is disclosed which utilized a floating manifold system. The assembly operates with minimal stacked tolerances by aligning the cell to the windows within a manifold and independently aligning the cell to the read head directly. This configuration enables the ability to replace the flow cell or the flow cell/manifold assembly within a light scattering instrument without the need to realign the flow through elements with the light scattering illumination source while still maintaining reproducible, quality data. Some embodiments employ wide bore cells which enable the measurement of process analytic technology (PAT) including online monitoring of reactions.

An optical cell for performing light spectroscopy (including absorbance, fluorescence and scattering measurements) on a liquid sample in microfluidic devices is disclosed. The optical cell comprises an inlaid sheet having an opaque material inlaid in a clear material, and a sensing channel that crosses the clear material and the opaque material provides a fluidic path for the liquid sample and an optical path for probe light. Integral optical windows crossing a clear-opaque material interface permit light coupling into and out of the sensing channel, and thus light transmission through the sensing channel is almost entirely isolated from background light interference. A microfluidic chip comprising one or more optical cells is also disclosed. The optical cells may have different lengths of sensing channels, and may be optically and fluidly coupled. A method of manufacturing an optical cell in a microfluidic chip is also disclosed.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, is used to accurately identify surface irregularities on a veneer surface. A grade is then assigned to the veneer based, at least in part, on the detected irregularities. In one embodiment, the veneer is then provided to an improved veneer stacking system that produces more consistently graded veneer stacks and safer veneer stacks, is less expensive to operate, and is far safer than currently available methods and systems for full veneer sheet, veneer strip, and partial veneer sheet stacking.

An illuminator/collector assembly can deliver incident light to a sample and collect return light returning from the sample. A sensor can measure ray intensities as a function of ray position and ray angle for the collected return light. A ray selector can select a first subset of rays from the collected return light at the sensor that meet a first selection criterion. In some examples, the ray selector can aggregate ray intensities into bins, each bin corresponding to rays in the collected return light that traverse within the sample an estimated optical path length within a respective range of optical path lengths. A characterizer can determine a physical property of the sample, such as absorptivity, based on the ray intensities, ray positions, and ray angles for the first subset of rays. Accounting for variations in optical path length traversed within the sample can improve accuracy.

An apparatus to detect contaminants in a fuel comprises an input to receive a fuel flow. A light scattering system is coupled to the input. An imaging system is coupled to the light scattering system. A memory is coupled to the imaging system. A processor is coupled to the memory. Output signals from the imaging and light scattering systems are transferred to the processor. The processor is configured to cause the light scattering system to monitor the light scattering intensity from the contaminants in the fuel flow. The processor is configured to cause the light scattering system to measure a light scattering intensity signal from the contaminants in the fuel flow. The processor is configured to generate a trigger signal to turn on the imaging system when the light scattering intensity is greater than a predetermined threshold.

Near InfraRed NIR technology, including NIR cameras and detectors, is used to accurately identify surface irregularities on a surface of a veneer sheet or other wood product. Based on the identified surface irregularities for a given wood product, one or more actions are taken with respect to wood product or production process to ensure the wood product is put to the most efficient, effective, and valuable use.