A device (1) comprising an optical apparatus (2) for monitoring bacterial growth of a drug-dosed liquid biological sample. A sample container port for receiving a sample container (6), in use, is provided in the device, the sample container (6) having at least one detection chamber (20) for containing the drug-dosed sample. The optical apparatus (2) comprises a light source (22) configured to emit light along an incident beam axis that, in use, intersects with at least one detection chamber (20) of the sample container (6), and to illuminate the drug-dosed sample contained within the detection chamber (20). The optical apparatus (20) comprises a first photodetector (26) configured to receive light scattered by bacteria in the sample. The optical apparatus (2) comprises a light collection arrangement (24) configured to collect light exiting the detection chamber (20) that has been scattered in a forward direction by bacteria in the sample, in a range of scattering angles between about +/−4 and +/−20 degrees relative to the incident beam axis, and to direct the collected scattered light to the first photodetector (26); and prevent non-scattered light travelling parallel to the incident beam axis and exiting the detection chamber (20) from reaching the first photodetector (26). The optical apparatus (2) comprises at least one processor configured to: measure an intensity of the scattered light received by the first photodetector (26); determine a corresponding representative amount or concentration of bacteria present in the sample based on the intensity of the scattered light; repeat the measuring and determining steps at a series of pre-determined intervals to determine changes in the representative amount or concentration of bacteria present in the sample as a function of time; and determine a corresponding susceptibility of the bacteria in the sample to the respective drug.

Described here are optical sampling architectures and methods for operation thereof. An optical sampling architecture can be capable of emitting a launch sheet light beam towards a launch region and receiving a detection sheet light beam from a detection region. The launch region can have one dimension that is elongated relative to another dimension. The detection region can also have one dimension elongated relative to another dimension such that the system can selectively accept light having one or more properties (e.g., angle of incidence, beam size, beam shape, etc.). In some examples, the elongated dimension of the detection region can be greater than the elongated dimension of the launch region. In some examples, the system can include an outcoupler array and associated components for creating a launch sheet light beam having light rays with different in-plane launch positions and/or in-plane launch angles.

A method for detecting deposited particles (P) on a surface (11) of an object (3, 14) includes: irradiating a partial region of the surface (11) of the object (3, 14) with measurement radiation; detecting measurement radiation scattered on the irradiated partial region, and detecting particles in the partial region of the surface of the object (3, 14) based on the detected measurement radiation. In the steps of irradiating and detecting, the surface (11) of the object (3, 14) has an anti-reflective coating (13) and/or a surface structure (15) for reducing the reflectivity of the surface (11) for the measurement radiation (9), wherein the particle detection limit is lowered due to the anti-reflective coating (13) and/or the surface structure (15). Also disclosed are a wafer (3) and a mask blank for carrying out the method.

Apparatus and methods for forming an image of an object which involves focusing partially to fully spatially-coherent radiation onto a sample and collecting the resulting scattered radiation (the “standard data set”) on an array detector. In addition to the standard dataset, an additional measurement or plurality of measurements is made of a relatively-unscattered beam, using the array detector, which comprises the “modulus enforced probe (MEP) dataset”. This MEP dataset serves as an extra constraint, called the MEP constraint, in the phase retrieval algorithm used to reconstruct the image of the object.

Disclosed herein is a dust measuring apparatus and method for measuring a dust concentration in a flow channel. The apparatus includes a flow channel unit for defining a flow channel allowing a fluid containing dust to move therethrough, a light emitter for emitting light into the flow channel, a light detector for detecting light scattered from the dust in the flow channel and converting it to an electrical detection signal, the light detector including a plurality of detectors having different light detection ranges, and a controller for controlling the flow channel unit, the light emitter and the light detector, wherein the controller is configured to receive detection signals from the detectors, compensate for an offset for the received detection signals, and measure a dust concentration based on the compensated detection signals.

The image inspection apparatus includes an image capturing unit which captures images of an object, a transparent illumination unit disposed between the object and the image capturing unit, and a control unit configured to control the image capturing unit and the illumination unit. The illumination unit radiates light to the object in a first direction and causes the light to scan and radiates light to the object in a second direction and causes the light to scan. The image capturing unit captures images of the object. The control unit identifies a light-emitting position of the illumination unit when a measurement point of the surface of the object is illuminated from images of the object captured, and calculates a distance to the measurement point on the basis of the identified light-emitting position, the first direction and the second direction.

Disclosed herein is a computer-implemented method, a respective device, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The method includes: obtaining color values, texture values and digital images of a target coating, retrieving from a database one or more preliminary matching formulas based on the color and/or texture values obtained for the target coating, determining sparkle points within the respective obtained images and within the respective images associated with the one or more preliminary matching formulas, creating subimages of each sparkle point from the respective images, providing the created subimages to a convolutional neural network, the convolutional neural network being trained to correlate a respective subimage of a respective sparkle point with a pigment and/or pigment class, and determining, based on an output of the neural network, at least one of the one or more preliminary matching formulas as the formula(s) best matching the target coating.

The present disclosure describes a flow cell, a read head, and a skid attachment for measuring real-time molecular weight for downstream process control. In an embodiment, the flow cell comprises a hollow cylindrical tube, an inlet flange connected to an inlet of the tube, and an outlet flange connected to an outlet of the tube. In an embodiment, the read head comprises at least one push rod, at least two line contacts, where the at least one push rod is configured to push an outer side wall of a flow cell against the at least two line contacts. In an embodiment, the skid attachment comprises a plurality of arms connected to an enclosure configured to house at least a multi-angle light scattering instrument comprising a read head.

A device for detecting the presence of pollen in the air, including a measuring chamber isolated from external light, an arrangement configured to drive an air flow through the measuring chamber, and a light source emitting a light beam in a direction of propagation through the air flow, into the measuring chamber. The device includes at least four photosensitive sensors configured to measure the luminous flux diffused by the illuminated air flow, in four different directions, a clock, at least two meteorological sensors, and at least one computer capable of determining the nature of a pollen particle present in the air from the data measured by the photosensitive sensors, the clock and the meteorological sensors.

An apparatus for generating a two dimensional map representative of a turbid or clear medium (11) includes a system (12) for generating incoherent light within a medium (11), a light collecting system (13) that is movable or stationary relative to the medium (11) being analyzed and that is arranged for collecting light exiting the medium (11), and a spectrum analyzer (14) configured to determine spectrum data of the light exiting the turbid medium (11) and to transmit the spectrum data to a computing unit (15). The computing unit (15) is configured to generate a two dimensional map, in which one dimension of the map is wavelength and a second dimension is a position of the light collecting system (13). The invention is also direct-ed to a method for classifying media using the two dimensional map generated with the apparatus. The method comprises steps of feeding and training neural networks and using the trained neural networks to classify unknown media.