A cutting tool with a cutting region and a connecting support region where the support region is designed to connect to an external motor assembly. The cutting tool is also has a porous region that is integrated within a portion of the tool such that as the tool cuts material the porous region can allow samples of the cut material to permeate into an internal chamber of the tool. Once in the internal chamber material samples can be analyzed in-situ for direct composition analysis.

An optical microcavity device (10), an alignment structure for an optical device, and a method for aligning an optical device are disclosed. The optical microcavity device (10) comprises: a first optical reflector (20); a second optical reflector (30) opposed to the first optical reflector (20) along an optical axis (40), the first and second optical reflectors (20, 30) being spaced from each other forming an open space therebetween; wherein the first optical reflector (20) comprises a first cavity reflector (22) and a first alignment reflector (24), wherein the second optical reflector (30) comprises a second cavity reflector (32) and a second alignment reflector (34), the second cavity reflector (32) comprising a recess to provide an optical microcavity between the first and second cavity reflectors (20, 30), the optical microcavity having an optical cavity length of at most 50 μm and/or an optical mode volume of 100 μm3 or less; an EM radiation source (50) configured for illuminating the optical microcavity with EM radiation (52) to cause multi-pass interference within the optical microcavity; and an alignment system configured to: illuminate the first and second alignment reflectors (24, 34) of the first and second optical reflectors (20, 30) to generate an optical interference pattern (74); detect the optical interference pattern (74); and determine a relative orientation and/or separation of the first and second optical reflectors (20, 30) based on the detected optical interference pattern (74); the alignment system further comprising an actuator system (100, 102) configured to move the first and second optical reflectors (20, 30) relative to each other to change the relative orientation and/or separation of the first and second optical reflectors (20, 30) based on the determined relative orientation and/or separation. At least one of the first and second alignment reflectors (20, 30) may comprise an alignment structure comprising at least two reflective surface portions having different angular orientations.

A cuvette with at least one side having materials with thermal conductivity of at least 5 W/m-K, such as sapphire, for holding contact lenses or intra-ocular lenses during optical measurements. The cuvette may further include a backstop to ensure consistent measurements and a pedestal to minimize optical measurement variations.

An object is to develop a measurement method, and a measurement substrate, for measuring SPF or other value in a single measurement, instead of having to measure it on many substrates as has been the case to date. As a solution, a substrate for UV transmittance evaluation, including a base material that allows UV rays in a range of 290 to 400 nm to transmit through, and a layer provided on one side thereof that contains at least one type of compound other than cellulose triacetate that has a sugar skeleton but is not a salt, is provided.

An apparatus to detect the topology of a workpiece including surface variations and flaws according to images from several viewpoints includes a frame, a loading member, a robot, an image capturing mechanism, and a controller. The loading member is positioned on the frame and loads a workpiece. The controller controls the robot to drive the image capturing mechanism to move or rotate to different preset positions from each of which the image capturing mechanism can capture images of the workpiece and transmit the images to the controller. The controller further processes the images to obtain an assessment of the components and surface of the workpiece for further processing.

Described herein are methods and apparatus for spectroscopic analysis of samples. In many embodiments, an apparatus for providing spectroscopic analysis of a sample comprises a sample holder. For example, the sample holder may comprise a consumable single use sample holder that can be readily coupled to and removed from a measurement apparatus such as a spectrometer. The sample holder may comprise a measurement surface configured to receive the sample during measurement, wherein the measurement surface may comprise a porous mesh. The porous mesh can receive the sample to optimally configure the sample for spectroscopic measurement, as described in further detail herein.

A fluorescence observation device is a device for performing fluorescence observation of a sample piece cut out from a sample including: a tray on which the sample piece is placed; a light source unit which generates excitation light to irradiate the sample piece; a detection unit which detects fluorescence from the sample piece; and an image generation unit which generates a fluorescence image of the sample piece based on a detection signal from the detection unit and the tray includes a plurality of placement regions provided around a center region of the tray and also includes a marker portion indicating a cutting orientation of the sample piece with respect to the sample.

A holder for drying includes a first member including a first tubular portion that protrudes like a tube and an annular second member that can fix filter paper in a flat state under tension by being fitted over the filter paper to surround an outer side of the first tubular portion while the filter paper is carried on the first tubular portion.

Provided herein are accessories for measuring a small sample using an optical spectrometer. A small sample accessory may include a sample holder to hold a small sample in optical communication with an optical spectrometer and a shell configured to reflect light from an illumination source away from the optical spectrometer.

A grain-component sensor comprises a white LED for emitting a white light as a light emission source, a sample holder in which a sample is filled, a spectroscope for receiving a reflected light from the sample and performing a spectroscopic analysis, and as optical filter provided on an optical path between the white LED and the sample holder, the optical filter has an optical characteristic that is a transmittance of substantially 100% in a wavelength band from 950 nm to 1100 nm and cuts a light in a visible light region to substantially 0%, a light emitted from the white LED transmits through the optical filter and is irradiated to the sample as a detection light in a wavelength band from 950 nm to 1100 nm, and a diffused reflected light from the sample is condensed by a condenser lens and is entered the spectroscope.