The present disclosure relates to a method for predicting photostability of an organic material within a short time using LA-DART-MS, the method including the steps of: irradiating a specimen containing an organic material with a laser beam; obtaining a mass spectrum of components desorbed and ionized from the specimen; and calculating a degradation yield of the mathematical expression 1 according to the present disclosure from the mass spectrum. The method for predicting photostability of an organic material according to the present disclosure as described above can predict photostability within seconds to minutes, which is a remarkably short time, as compared with a conventional method for measuring photostability of an organic material.

A scanning device for use in gathering data relating to crops is described including: at least one camera; and a stroboscopic light source is associated with each at least one camera; the device is arranged to be moved around an area where a crop is grown and includes a means for determining the location of the device in the area; the device being arranged to take images of the crop from the at least one camera in synchrony with the stroboscopic light source as the device moves around the area; and wherein the stroboscopic light source has a light output of greater than 6×10.sup.−5 joules/cm.sup.2 (at 2 feet).

A signal processing circuit uses gate signals corresponding to a plurality of divided measurement ranges to extract a fine particle pulse signal from a light reception level signal generated by an optical pickup, count the pulse number for each of the gate signals, and output a count value for each of the divided measurement ranges. A count value in-plane distribution generating unit generates count value in-plane distribution data in a measurement range based on the count value. A reaction region position coordinate computation unit estimates positions of all reaction regions from the count value in-plane distribution data. A reaction region count value computation unit calculates the count values for each of all the estimated reaction regions.

An analysis device includes an optical disc drive, a gate information processing unit, a detection circuit, and a gate shift processing unit. The optical disc drive rotates a specimen analysis disc and detects a measurement radial position for an optical pickup. The detection circuit generates gate signals shifted by a gate shift amount in each measurement radial position in a rotating direction of the specimen analysis disc, and generates count values of the respective gate signals. The gate shift processing unit divides a gate signal-corresponding region of the corresponding gate signal by a unit gate shift amount in the rotating direction of the specimen analysis disc to define a plurality of divided regions and sets count values of the divided regions based on the count values of the gate signals.

A microscope apparatus includes an illumination optical system that emits activating light and exciting light, an image capturing unit that captures an image formed by an imaging optical system, an image processing unit that carries out image processing using an image capturing result from the image capturing unit, and a controller. The controller provides a plurality of image generation periods and interrupt periods; causes, in the image generation periods, the activated fluorescent material to be irradiated with the exciting light and causes the image capturing unit to capture an image of the fluorescent light from the activated fluorescent material in a plurality of frame periods; and sets an intensity of the exciting light in the interrupt periods to be lower than an intensity in the image generation periods or causes the emission of the exciting light to stop in the interrupt periods. The image processing unit generates one picture image from at least some of image capturing results obtained in the plurality of frame periods.

For tracking a plurality of objects in a three-dimensional space two-dimensional pictures objects are recorded with two black and white cameras out of two different imaging directions. Both first pictures and second pictures of the two cameras are simultaneously exposed at two points in time in equal ways, a point in time at which the second pictures are exposed for a first time following to a point in time at which the first pictures are exposed for a last time at a much shorter interval than the two points in time of exposure of both the first and second pictures. First and second distributions of real positions of the individual objects are determined from their images in the first and second pictures, respectively; and temporally resolved trajectories of the individual objects in the three-dimensional space are determined from the first and second distributions of real positions.

Methods for pump-probe spectroscopy are provided. In an embodiment, such a method comprises directing pump light having a frequency .sub.pump at a location in a sample to excite a transition between two quantum states of a target entity in the sample, directing probe light at the location to generate a coherent output signal having a frequency .sub.output and a wavevector k.sub.output, and detecting the output signal as the probe light is scanned over a range of frequencies. In the method, either the transition excited by the pump light is a multiphoton transition corresponding to a frequency difference of n*.sub.pump, wherein n2; or the probe light is a set of m coherent light pulses, each coherent light pulse having a frequency .sub.m and a wavevector k.sub.m, wherein m2; or both. Systems for carrying out the methods are also provided.

A method for detecting a state of an egg, the method comprising: illuminating an egg with a plurality of light pulses, each one of said plurality of light pulses having: a wavelength between about 400 nanometer (nm) and about 1500 nm, a width between about 0.5 picoseconds (ps) and about 500 ps, and an intensity between about 0.1 milliJoule (mJ) and about 100 mJ; capturing a reflection of at least a portion of the plurality of light pulses at a time delay corresponding to light reflected from within said egg in an interval of between about 1 mm and about 20 mm; analyzing the captured reflection to determine at least one spectrum of each of said plurality of light pulses; and classifying at least one of a gender and a fertility state of said egg according to said at least one spectrum.

A method for detecting a state of an egg, the method comprising: illuminating an egg with a plurality of light pulses, each one of said plurality of light pulses having: a wavelength between about 400 nanometer (nm) and about 1500 nm, a width between about 0.5 picoseconds (ps) and about 500 ps, and an intensity between about 0.1 milliJoule (mJ) and about 100 mJ; capturing a reflection of at least a portion of the plurality of light pulses at a time delay corresponding to light reflected from within said egg in an interval of between about 1 mm and about 20 mm; analyzing the captured reflection to determine at least one spectrum of each of said plurality of light pulses; and classifying at least one of a gender and a fertility state of said egg according to said at least one spectrum.

Methods for pump-probe spectroscopy are provided. In an embodiment, such a method comprises directing pump light having a frequency .sub.pump at a location in a sample to excite a transition between two quantum states of a target entity in the sample, directing probe light at the location to generate a coherent output signal having a frequency .sub.output and a wavevector k.sub.output, and detecting the output signal as the probe light is scanned over a range of frequencies. In the method, either the transition excited by the pump light is a multiphoton transition corresponding to a frequency difference of n*.sub.pump, wherein n2; or the probe light is a set of m coherent light pulses, each coherent light pulse having a frequency .sub.m and a wavevector k.sub.m, wherein m2; or both. Systems for carrying out the methods are also provided.