A microfluidic analyser and a method of using the same is disclosed. The microfluidic analyser comprising a droplet generator, an analyte flow channel in fluid communication with said droplet generator at a first end, wherein said flow channel is configured to allow the droplets to flow in from the first end and exit from a second opposing end, said flow channel receiving at least one illumination channel positioned at a predetermined location between the first and the second end to excite contents of the droplets and said flow channel further comprising a plurality of receiving channels set at predetermined angles to an axis of the flow channel to interrogate at least one optical signal from the illuminated droplet traversing the flow channel and wherein said receiving channels terminate in a signal detector at the distal end away from the flow channel.

A method is provided for verifying the authenticity of an article which bears a security mark. The method includes irradiating the security mark with a time-varying light source, ascertaining at least one portion of the emissions spectrum of the irradiated security mark with at least one photodetector, determining the photoluminescence lifetime of the security mark by monitoring the time or frequency response of the photodetector, and verifying the authenticity of the article only if the security mark exhibits a photoluminescence which has a lifetime that falls within the range of appropriate values for each portion of the photoluminescence spectrum for which the photoluminescence lifetime of said security mark was ascertained.

The disclosed embodiments relate to multimodal imaging system, comprising: a fiber-coupled fluorescence imaging system, which operates based on ultra-violet (UV) excitation light; and a fiber-coupled optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging system. The multimodal imaging system also includes a fiber optic interface comprising a single optical fiber, which facilitates light delivery to a sample-of-interest and collection of returned optical signals for both the fluorescence imaging system and the OCT imaging system. During operation of the system, the single optical fiber carries both UV light and coherent infrared light through two concentric light-guiding regions, thereby facilitating generation of precisely co-registered optical data from the fluorescence imaging system and the OCT imaging system.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for reducing skew in an integrated device, such as a CMOS imaging device. In some aspects, multiple pixels of an integrated circuit may be configured to receive a same control signal and conduct charge carriers responsive to the control signal substantially at the same time. In some aspects, an integrated circuit may have modulated charge transfer channel voltage thresholds, such as by having different charge transfer channel lengths, and/or a doped portion configured to set a voltage threshold for charge transfer. In some aspects, an integrated circuit may have a via structure having a plurality of vias extending between continuous portions of at least two metal layers. In some aspects, an integrated circuit may include a row of pixels and a voltage source configured to provide a voltage to bias a semiconductor substrate of the integrated circuit along the row of pixels.

The present invention relates to a background blocking concept for use in time-resolved fluorometry binding assays. More particular, the invention relates to a binding assay and a kit involving the use of the same or similar chelating ligand in lanthanide chelate-labelled analyte-specific biomolecules and as or in a background blocking agent.

A time-resolved fluorescence immunochromatography test paper card for detecting butralin, which comprises a cover body and a housing body, wherein the cover body is provided with a test hole, a loading hole and a through-hole, an isolating mechanism is arranged in the test hole and the loading hole, the isolating mechanism comprises a first isolating ring and a second isolating ring, the top lateral walls of which are respectively provided with a first lug boss and a second lug boss, one end of the upper surface of the working board is concave towards the inner of the working board to provide a groove, there is a nitrocellulose membrane, a binding pad, a sample pad and a mark zone successively provided between the water absorbing block and the other end of the working board, and the lateral wall at one end of the working board is provided with a bump.

The present invention provides a method for determining a sensitivity to ultraviolet light non-invasively and immediately. A method for determining a UV sensitivity is provided involving: a step of irradiating the skin of a test subject with ultraviolet light to determine the UV sensitivity using the amount of biophotons to be detected within a specific period after the irradiation, wherein 50% or more of the specific period overlaps a period from 1 to 3 minutes after the irradiation.

The present invention relates to a method for generating a result image. The method comprises the steps of: acquiring a STED image of a sample, the STED image comprising pixels; calculating Fourier coefficients of arrival times for the pixels of the image, resulting in real coefficients representing a first image and in imaginary coefficients representing a second image; deriving an intensity image from the STED image; applying a spatial filter to the first image, the second image and the intensity image, resulting in a filtered first image, a filtered second image, and filtered intensity image, respectively; calculating an image G based on the filtered first image and the filtered intensity image; calculating an image S based on the filtered second image and the filtered intensity image; and calculating a result image based on the image G and the image S.

An apparatus for characterizing luminescent entities by excitation comprising: • a substrate (6) being in contact with a solution comprising luminescent entities; • a source of electromagnetic radiation (4) providing at least a primary beam of radiation (8); an objective (5); a first optical element (1) capable of transforming the intensity profile of the primary beam (8) into an arbitrary secondary intensity profile (distribution) (9); a second optical element (2) capable of separating (discriminating) radiation by wavelength; and a detector (7), where the arbitrary secondary intensity profile has at least an off-center circular continuous intensity distribution (33) focused on the back focal plane (12) of the objective forming a collimated beam (10) capable of creating an evanescent field on the side of the substrate where the solution comprising luminescent entities are located, where the evanescent field excites the luminescent entities thereby creating emission radiation separated by the second optical element (2) and captioned by the detector (7). The invention also relates to an apparatus comprising two optical elements providing a final third intensity profile (distribution) which is the convolution of two mathematical transformations corresponding to each of optical element one and four, respectively.

A device for the in-ovo determination of the sex of a fertilized bird egg, having a light source for emitting excitation radiation for exciting fluorescence in a region inside the bird egg, a spectroscopic apparatus for analysing, in a temporally and/or spectrally-resolved manner, fluorescence radiation emitted from the region inside the bird egg, an evaluation unit for determining the sex from the data determined by means of the spectro-scopic apparatus and a measuring head for jointly transmitting the excitation radiation into the bird egg and receiving the fluorescence radiation from the bird egg. The measuring head has an optical fibre system with a head end for transmitting the excitation radiation and receiving the fluorescence radiation.