Systems for confocal Raman spectroscopy of points of interest or regions of interest with concurrent imaging are disclosed. The imaging may be used for real time selection of points of interest or regions of interest for Raman spectroscopy and to monitor for unwanted motions of a sample while Raman spectra are acquired. Disclosed embodiments apply Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) in a confocal Raman spectroscopy system. A single laser may be used as a light source for both RCM and micro-Raman spectroscopy. A Faraday optical isolator may be applied to extract RCM signals for imaging Systems as described herein have example application for ex vivo sample and in vivo skin measurement.

A multicolor fluorescence analysis device 11 is for detecting fluorescence emitted, as a result of excitation light irradiation, from a plurality of types of fluorophores included in a sample s, and is provided with an irradiation optical unit 520 for irradiating light emitted from a light source 510 onto a sample s as excitation light, a fluorescence condensation unit 530 having a fluorescence filter 531 that transmits light emitted from the sample s and transmits light of transmission wavelength bands different from the excitation wavelength bands, and a two-dimensional detector 554 that has a plurality of types of transmission filters 556 for transmitting prescribed wavelengths of light and detects the intensity of the light of the prescribed wavelength for each transmission filter 556, and the light emitted from at least two fluorophores from among the plurality of types of fluorophores is detected simultaneously and the fluorophore types are identified accordingly.

A method of measuring the color of a surface may include a device positioned above the surface. The device may include an optical sensor and a display screen. The optical sensor measures visible light level reflected from the surface in a plurality of spectral channels. A plurality of patterns are sequentially displayed on the display screen. The optical sensor is used to measure light reflected by the surface during display of each pattern. A value is determined for the distance from the optical sensor to the illuminated region for a first local maximum of intensity of the measured light reflected by the surface. A location in a color space corresponding to a color of the surface or a reflectance spectrum of the surface is determined based on the visible light level in each spectral channel for the value of the distance corresponding to the first local maximum.

The invention comprises a method for noninvasively determining a sample property, comprising controlling photon generation from a source and analyzing signal from a set of detectors; irradiating an illumination zone of skin with the photons; and detecting diffusely reflected photons from the skin, the set of detectors respectively optically coupled to a set of detection zones of the skin positioned along a spiral path between a first and second radial distance from the illumination zone, where a first detection zone of a first detector of the set of detectors extends radially outward from the illumination zone to at least an inward radial distance, from the illumination zone, of a second detection zone of a second detector of the set of detectors, where at least one detection zone of the set of detection zones has a central radial distance from the illumination zone between the first and second radial distances.

The invention comprises a method and apparatus for sampling skin of a person as a part of noninvasive analyte property determination system, comprising the steps of: providing an analyzer, comprising: sources and at least three detectors at least partially embedded in a probe housing, the probe housing comprising a sample side surface, the detectors including: a range of differing radial distances from a first illumination zone; repetitively illuminating an illumination zone of the skin with photons in a range of 1200 to 2500 nm; detecting portions of the first photons with the at least three detectors; and using signals from the at least three detectors and a metric, respectively classifying the skin into a first, second, and third tissue state, the radial distances of the at least three detectors differing from each other by greater than ten percent.

According to one embodiment, a light source includes a plurality of light-emitting elements each including one or more surface-emitting lasers; and a plurality of detecting elements located on a same substrate as the light-emitting elements. The detecting elements individually detect quantities of output light of the light-emitting elements.

A Raman sensor includes a light source assembly having a plurality of light sources configured to emit light to a plurality of skin points of skin, each of the plurality of skin points having a predetermined separation distance from a light collection region of the skin from which Raman scattered light is collected; a light collector configured to collect the Raman scattered light from the light collection region of the skin; and a detector configured to detect the collected Raman scattered light.

An illuminator system for semiconductor chip testing has a rotary plate and a first light source and second light source mounted on the rotary plate. A controller is configured to rotate the rotary plate to provide a desired light output. A light output of the illuminator system is aligned to the desired first or second light source. A first semiconductor chip receives illumination from the desired source. The rotary plate is rotated until the desired light source is aligned to the light output. A quality or characteristic of light emitted by the first light source can be measured, and then the first light source can be adjusted, or an alert can be generated, if the quality or characteristic falls outside of a preconfigured range.

A device for measuring optical spectra at high speed and with high resolution using tunable optical laser comb sources. In one embodiment there is provided a first tunable comb laser source and a second tunable comb laser source whereby the wavelength of each comb laser source is chosen such that the combination of the two sources provides a continuous spectral coverage over a band in an optical spectrum under a selected wavelength tuning condition. By overlapping the two comb sources in the manner described the deadzone issue is overcome in the most spectrally efficient way possible.

A Raman sensor includes a light source assembly having a plurality of light sources configured to emit light to a plurality of skin points of skin, each of the plurality of skin points having a predetermined separation distance from a light collection region of the skin from which Raman scattered light is collected; a light collector configured to collect the Raman scattered light from the light collection region of the skin; and a detector configured to detect the collected Raman scattered light.