1645 results about "Optical measurements" patented technology

Devices and methods for non-invasively measuring at least one parameter of a sample, such as the presence of a disease condition, progression of a disease state, presence of an analyte, or concentration of an analyte, in a biological sample, such as, for example, a body part. In these devices and methods, temperature is controlled and is varied between preset boundaries. The methods and devices measure light that is reflected, scattered, absorbed, or emitted by the sample from an average sampling depth, d_av, that is confined within a region in the sample wherein temperature is controlled. According to the method of this invention, the sampling depth d_av, in human tissue is modified by changing the temperature of the tissue. The sampling depth increases as the temperature is lowered below the body core temperature and decreases when the temperature is raised within or above the body core temperature. Changing the temperature at the measurement site changes the light penetration depth in tissue and hence d_av. Change in light penetration in tissue as a function of temperature can be used to estimate the presence of a disease condition, progression of a disease state, presence of an analyte, or concentration of an analyte in a biological sample. According to the method of this invention, an optical measurement is performed on a biological sample at a first temperature. Then, when the optical measurement is repeated at a second temperature, light will penetrate into the biological sample to a depth that is different from the depth to which light penetrates at the first temperature by from about 5% to about 20%.

A method and apparatus that may be utilized for chemical vapor deposition and/or hydride vapor phase epitaxial (HVPE) deposition are provided. In one embodiment, the apparatus is a processing chamber that includes a showerhead with separate inlets and channels for delivering separate processing gases into a processing volume of the chamber without mixing the gases prior to entering the processing volume. In one embodiment, the showerhead includes metrology ports with purge gas assemblies configured and positioned to deliver a purge gas to prevent deposition thereon. In one embodiment, the metrology port is configured to receive a temperature measurement device, and the purge gas assembly is a concentric tube configuration configured to prevent deposition on components of the temperature measurement device. In one embodiment, the metrology port has a sensor window and is configured to receive an optical measurement device, and the purge gas assembly and sensor window are configured to prevent deposition on the sensor window.

A probe device for use in non-invasive optical measurements of at least one parameter of the patient's blood. The probe device comprises a finger holder in the form of a clip member that secures a fingertip between its clamping legs. The probe device supports a measuring unit for applying optical measurements to a measurement location on the finger and carries a pressurizing assembly operable for applying controllably variable, substantially under-systolic pressure to the finger in the vicinity of the measurement location. Several measurement sessions are performed at the measurement location with at least two different 3 wavelength of incident light to detect light response of the medium and generate measured data indicative thereof, and the pressure applied to the vicinity of the measurement location is simultaneously varied during measurements. The light response of the medium corresponding to different wavelength of the incident light and different pressure values during measurements. The light response of the medium corresponding to different wavelength of the incident light and different pressure values is analyzed, and an optimal pressure value is determined, so as to utilize the corresponding light response of the medium for deriving therefrom the at least on blood parameter.

A device and method are provided for use with a noninvasive optical measurement system, such as a thermal gradient spectrometer, for improved determination of analyte concentrations within living tissue. In one embodiment, a wearable window is secured to a patient's forearm thereby isolating a measurement site on the patient's skin for determination of blood glucose levels. The wearable window effectively replaces a window of the spectrometer, and thus forms an interface between the patient's skin and a thermal mass window of the spectrometer. When the spectrometer must be temporarily removed from the patient's skin, such as to allow the patient mobility, the wearable window is left secured to the forearm so as to maintain a consistent measurement site on the skin. When the spectrometer is later reattached to the patient, the wearable window will again form an interface between the spectrometer and the same location of skin as before.

An optical measurement device and method are presented for use in non-invasive measurements on a patient's body. The device comprises an illumination assembly configured and operable to generate illuminating light of a predetermined wavelength range; a detection assembly; and a light directing assembly. The detection assembly comprises a first detector unit for detecting a first light signal transmitted through an illuminated body portion and generating first measured data indicative of the detected transmitted light, and a second detector unit for detecting a second light signal reflected from the illuminated body portion and generating second measured data indicative of the detected reflected light. The light directing assembly comprises a light diffuser for scattering back light incident thereto, to thereby direct the illuminating light or the light coming from the body portion back towards the body portion. This technique provides for increasing the amount of light reaching a region of interest inside the body portion and maximizing homogeneity of the first and second detected light signals.

A receptacle having a plurality of interconnected chambers arranged to permit multiple process steps or processes to be performed independently or simultaneously. The receptacles are manufactured to separate liquid from dried reagents and to maintain the stability of the dried reagents. An immiscible liquid, such as an oil, is included to control loading of process materials, facilitate mixing and reconstitution of dried reagents, limit evaporation, control heating of reaction materials, concentrate solid support materials to prevent clogging of fluid connections, provide minimum volumes for fluid transfers, and to prevent process materials from sticking to chamber surfaces. The receptacles can be adapted for use in systems having a processing instrument that includes an actuator system for selectively moving fluid substances between chambers and a detector. The actuator system can be arranged to concentrate an analyte present in a sample. The detector can be used to detect an optical signal emitted by the contents of the receptacle.

A method and device are presented for use in non-invasive optical measurements of at least one desired characteristic of patient's blood. A condition of artificial blood kinetics is created at a measurement location in a patient's blood perfused fleshy medium and maintained for a certain time period. This condition is altered over a predetermined time interval within said certain time period so as to modulate scattering properties of blood. Optical measurements are applied to the measurement location by illuminating it with incident light beams of at least two different wavelengths in a range where the scattering properties of blood are sensitive to light radiation, detecting light responses of the medium, and generating measured data indicative of time evolutions of the light responses of the medium for said at least two different wavelengths, respectively, over at least a part of said predetermined time interval.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is used to map the surface elevation and thickness of the cornea. The OCT maps are used to plan laser procedures for the treatment of an irregular, opacified or weakened cornea, and in the treatment of refractive errors. In the excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) procedure, the OCT data is used to plan a map of ablation depth needed to restore a smooth optical surface. In the excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy procedure, OCT mapping of epithelial thickness is used to achieve clean laser epithelial removal. In femtosecond laser anterior keratoplasty procedure, OCT data is used to plan the depth of femtosecond laser dissection to remove an anterior layer of the cornea, leaving a smooth recipient bed of uniform thickness to receive a disk of donated corneal tissue. The linkage of an OCT system to a precise laser surgical system enables the performance of new procedures that are safer, less invasive and produce faster visual recovery than conventional surgical procedures.

A device having a flow channel, wherein at least one flow-terminating interface is used to control the flow of liquid in the flow channel. The flow-terminating interface prevents the flow of the liquid beyond the interface. In one aspect, the invention provides a sensor, such as, for example, a biosensor, in the form of a strip, the sensor being suitable for electrochemical or optical measurement. The sensor comprises a base layer and a cover layer, and the base layer is separated from the cover layer by a spacer layer. The base layer, cover layer, and spacer layer define a flow channel into which a liquid sample is drawn therein and flows therethrough by means of capillary attraction. The flow of the sample is terminated by a flow-terminating interface positioned in the flow channel.

A monitoring function-equipped dispensing system and a method of monitoring the dispensing system wherein conditions in a pipeline can be identified accurately and precisely by not only optically measuring conditions in the pipeline, but performing other measurements reinforcing the former. The system comprises: one or more translucent or semi-translucent pipelines; one or more pressure regulating units which respectively regulate the pressures in the pipelines; an elevating/lowering unit which enables the pipelines to be elevated/lowered; a pressure measuring unit which measures the pressures in the respective pipelines when operation instructions are given to the pressure regulating unit; an optical measurement unit which optically measures the conditions of the pipelines above the container disposition area, when operations based on operation instructions including operation instructions to the pressure regulating unit are completed; and a monitoring unit which judges the conditions in the pipelines based on the operation instructions and measurement results of the pressure measuring unit and the optical measurement unit so as to obtain monitoring results that associate the judged results with respective pipelines and the operation instructions.

A measurement system and method are presented for use in detecting a predetermined condition of a patient's ear indicative of a certain disease such as SOM and SOM. The system comprises an optical measuring unit and a control unit connectable to the output of the measuring unit. The optical measuring unit is configured and operable for irradiating a region of interest in a patient's ear with incident light including at least two different wavelengths, detecting light responses of the region of interest to said at least two different wavelengths, and producing measured data indicative thereof. The at least two different wavelengths are selected such that the light response of the region of interest to at least one first wavelength is substantially independent of said predetermined condition and the light response to at least one second wavelength is affected by said predetermined condition. The control unit is operable for receiving and processing the measured data to generate output data indicative of the measurement results. The control unit is configured and operable for controlling operation of the optical measuring unit, and for receiving the measured data and processing it to generate output data indicative of whether or not said predetermined condition exists. The control unit comprises a memory utility for storing predetermined reference data indicative of the light response of the region of interest while in a healthy condition of a patient's ear; a data processing and analyzing utility preprogrammed for processing and analyzing the measured data by determining a relation between the measured light responses and the corresponding reference data.

A remote optical measurement suitable for Raman and fluorescence detection uses one or more dielectric components and an optical configuration which affords significant miniaturization, in some cases resulting in a probe with dimensions on the order of one-half inch or less on a side. A primary application is the pharmaceutical market, wherein the reactors vessels are only 1-inch in diameter, causing a scale down of instrumentation due to space requirements.

A measuring device for optically measuring a distance to a target object includes an emitter device for emitting an optical measuring beam to the target object, a capturing device including a detection surface for detecting an optical beam returned by the target object, and an evaluation device. The detection surface has a plurality of pixels, each pixel having at least one SPAD (single photon avalanche diode) and each of the plurality of pixels is connected to the evaluation device. The emitting device and the capturing device are configured in such a manner that the optical measurement beam returned by the target object simultaneously illuminates a plurality of pixels. The evaluation device is configured in order to determine the distance between the measuring device and the target object based on the evaluation of detection signals of several pixels.

In a method of high spatial resolution imaging a structure of a sample, the structure is marked with a substance. The substance is selected from a group of substances which are capable of being repeatedly transferred out of a first state having first optical properties into a second state having second optical properties by means of an optical switch over signal, and which are capable of returning out of the second state into the first state, the two states differing with regard to at least one criteria. Within areas of the sample the sample is transferred into the second state by means of the optical switch over signal with which at least one spatially limited area of the sample is purposefully omitted. An optical measurement signal is detected, which is associated with the substance in the first state and which comes out of a detection area including both the area purposefully omitted with the switch over signal and areas in which the substance has been transferred into to second state.

A method of monitoring fluid flow uses an optical fibre having a heatable coating. The fibre is disposed within flowing fluid, and the heatable coating heated so that heat is transferred from the coating to the fluid. Optical measurements of the temperature of the heatable coating are made, where the temperature of the heatable coating depends on the flow velocity of the flowing fluid, and the temperature measurement is used to derive information about the flow. The coating may be an electrically resistive layer on the outer surface of the fibre, that is heated by passing electric current through it. This allows distributed flow measurements to be made. Alternatively, discrete measurements can be made if the coating is provided as a thin film layer on an end facet of the fibre. The coating is heated by directing light at a wavelength absorbed by the thin film material along the fibre.

The invention provides an optical measurement system and method for a three-dimensional shape of a large-scale complex curved surface member. The method is based on binocular optical grating projection measurement technologies, point cloud poses of all station positions during multiple station position measurement are obtained via a laser tracker and a corresponding target ball, point cloud obtained via the multiple station position measurement is converted to be under a unified laser tracker coordinate system according to corresponding pose data, and overall merging of point cloud data of a large-scale complex surface-shaped member can be realized; in the system, a six degree-of-freedom robot is used as a carrier for a point cloud space pose tracking unit and a binocular structured light measurement device, single station position measurement precision is ensured via calibration of the binocular structured light measurement device before measurement work starts, and data integrity and measurement efficiency are ensured via measurement route planning. Via the optical measurement system and method, all kinds of large-scale complex surface-shaped members can be accurately measured in non-contact conditions; practical, reliable and complete original three dimensional shape data can be provided for evaluation of all kinds of processing quality.

A system and method for enhanced automatic monoimaging. Embodiments of the present invention are operable for configuring a first camera based on a configuration determination by a second camera. The method includes capturing a first image with the first camera and determining an optical configuration based on an optical measurement performed by a second camera. In one embodiment, the second camera comprises a lower resolution sensor than a sensor of the first camera. The method further includes sending the optical configuration from the second camera to the first camera and adjusting a configuration of the first camera based on the optical configuration. The method further includes capturing a second image with the first camera. The first image and the second image may be preview images.

An optical device which can be fabricated without any axial alignment by optical measurement and can therefore be produced at a remarkably decreased cost, and which is composed of an optical waveguide part (1) obtained by perpendicularly cutting an optically-transparent polymer film having a glass substrate attached thereto and having a refractive index distribution formed, in a predetermined position measured from the position of the refractive index distribution as a reference, and a holder part (2) for holding the optical waveguide part (1) in a predetermined position, the holder part (2) having a horizontal guide surface (2H) and a vertical guide surface (2V), the optical waveguide part (1) having a glass substrate surface or a polymer film surface coherently attached to the horizontal guide surface (2H) of the holder part (2), and the optical waveguide part (1) having a perpendicularly cut surface coherently attached to the vertical guide surface (2V) of the holder part (2).

The invention relates to a calibration technology for multiple structured light projected three-dimensional profile measuring heads, discloses a technology for calibrating multiple structured light projected three-dimensional profile measuring heads in different directions, which can be used for the quick label-free measurement of an object profile projected by structured light, and belongs to the technical field of optical measurement. In the calibration technology, only a calibration object of a plane with a plurality of calibration patterns is required to be designed and is not required to be manufactured into a high-precision three-dimensional target with known geometrical relationships on all surfaces; and geometrical parameters among all planes of the calibration object can be obtained by a close-range photogrammetry technology to upgrade the calibration object into the three-dimensional target, so the difficulty of machining and maintaining the high-precision three-dimensional target directly is reduced. By utilizing the technology, multiple structured light projected three-dimensional profile measuring heads can be measured from different visual angles in a label-free mode, and point clouds scanned in different directions are unified to one coordinate system automatically, so error accumulation caused by splicing is avoided effectively, and the time of the three-dimensional appearance reconstruction of the object can be shortened.

Blood separation methods and systems are provided for mid-processing calculation of blood composition. Blood is conveyed into a device having an outlet line and the device is spun to separate a blood component from the blood. A flow of blood component is conveyed from the device by the outlet line and the blood component in the outlet line is optically measured. With said optical measurement, a current blood component yield, a blood component pre-count, the volume of blood to process to collect a target amount of said blood component, and/or the processing time required to collect a target amount of said blood component is calculated. The optical measurement can also be used to calculate an amount of storage fluid to convey into a collection container with the blood component.

The invention relates to fluorescent dyes (fluorophores) based on polymethines for use in optical measurement and detection procedures, in particular those employing fluorescence, for example in medicine, in pharmacology and in the biological, materials and environmental sciences. The objective was to create fluorophores based on polymethines that have a large Stokes shift, high photostability, long storage life and a high fluorescent quantum yield, and that can be excited in the simplest possible manner by white-light sources or laser radiation in the UV, visible or NIR spectral region. According to the invention dyes on the basis of polymethines having the general formulas I, II or III are employed.

A method for identifying, analyzing, and quantifying the cellular components of whole blood by means of an automated hematology analyzer and the detection of the light scattered, absorbed, and fluorescently emitted by each cell. More particularly, the aforementioned method involves identifying, analyzing, and quantifying the cellular components of whole blood by means of a light source having a wavelength ranging from about 400 nm to about 450 nm and multiple in-flow optical measurements and staining without the need for lysing red blood cells.

The invention relates to a method for measuring distances, based on the phase measurement of an optical measuring beam that is reflected or scattered by an object, on which the beam is sighted. According to said method, the measurement object is exposed to an optical measuring beam of modulated intensity emitted by a measuring device and is converted into electrical measurement signals. The signals are then compared with a reference signal that is generated from the detection and conversion of a portion of measuring light that has been guided on a known reference trajectory, in order to determine the distance between the measuring device and the measurement objet, based on the phase difference that has been determined. The emitted measuring beam is modulated in bursts and the measurement signal of the receiver is only evaluated during the active burst period. The invention also relates to devices for carrying out said method.

Methods, systems, and related computer program products for non-invasive monitoring of a biological volume, such as a human brain, are described. In one preferred embodiment, each of a plurality of optical sources emits optical radiation into the biological volume each of a plurality of optical detectors detects optical radiation impinging thereupon from the biological volume. The optical measurements are processed to compute a requisite property value associated with each source-detector pair. For each source-detector pair, a volumetric basis region corresponding thereto is weighted by the requisite property value, the volumetric basis region being predetermined and representative of an estimated subvolume of the biological volume encountered by optical radiation emitted from that source and propagating to that detector. The weighted volumetric basis regions are accumulated into a volumetric cumulative array, and a display output is generated based at least in part on the volumetric cumulative array.

A measuring device for optically measuring a distance to a target object including an emitter device for emitting an optical measuring beam to the target object, a capturing device comprising a detection surface for detecting an optical beam returned by the target object, and an evaluation device. The detection surface has a plurality of pixels, each pixel having at least one light-sensitive element and each of the plurality of pixels is connected to the evaluation device. The emitting device and the capturing device are configured in such a manner that the optical measurement beam returned by the target object simultaneously illuminates a plurality of pixels. The evaluation device is configured in such a manner that detection signals of a plurality of pixels are guided to at least one of the plurality of distance determining devices.

An optical measuring device for measuring an inner wall of a cavity has a confocal proximity sensor. The beam path of the illumination light and the measuring light is deflected by a rotatably mounted reflector. By introducing an object-side end of the measuring device into the cavity a peripheral side wall of the cavity is measured. The reflector is rotated about an axis of rotation which coincides with the longitudinal axis of the optical measuring device. The inner wall is scanned along a line that revolves around the axis of rotation. The optical measuring device is equipped with two confocal proximity sensors. At the object-side end of the measuring device dual optics with a plurality of optical components are provided, by which the illumination beams of the two confocal proximity sensors are focused diametrically outwards at mutually opposing scanning points on the inner wall of the cavity.

An optical measurement apparatus which includes at least one each of a light source, an optical element, a photodetector, and a sample container, and which measures a physical property of a biological sample in a solution retained by the sample container according to a plurality of kinds of measurement items, wherein a combination of the light source, the optical element, and the photodetector is selected or changed according to the measurement item, and a position where the photodetector is located is adjusted according to the selection or change based on intensity of light accepted by the photodetector.

A reduced multicubic database interpolation method is provided. The interpolation method is designed to map a function and its associated argument into an interpolated value using a database of points. The database is searched to locate an interpolation cell that includes the function argument. The interpolation cell is used to transform the function argument to reflect translation of the interpolation cell to a unit cell. The interpolated value is then generated as a cubic function using the data points that correspond to vertices of the unit cell. All of the derivatives in the cubic function are simple and the interpolation accuracy order is higher than first-order.

Methods and systems for characterizing dimensions and material properties of high aspect ratio, vertically manufactured devices using transmission, small-angle x-ray scattering (T-SAXS) techniques are described herein. Exemplary structures include spin transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM), vertical NAND memory (V-NAND), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), three dimensional FLASH memory (3D-FLASH), resistive random access memory (Re-RAM), and PC-RAM. In one aspect, T-SAXS measurements are performed at a number of different orientations that are more densely concentrated near the normal incidence angle and less densely concentrated at orientations that are further from the normal incidence angle. In a further aspect, T-SAXS measurement data is used to generate an image of a measured structure based on the measured intensities of the detected diffraction orders. In another further aspect, a metrology system is configured to generate models for combined x-ray and optical measurement analysis.

An optical waveguide is constructed so as to comprise a non-solid core layer surrounded by a solid-state material. The non-solid core layer has an index of refraction which is lower than the index of refraction of the surrounding solid-state material, and light can be transmitted with low loss through the non-solid core layer. In an exemplary application, the non-solid core layer comprises a sample material whose light transmission, absorption, and/or interference characteristics are to be measured. In addition, a perpendicular waveguide portion may be included for use in injecting light into the core for measuring fluorescence characteristics associated with the sample material. Most preferably, the optical waveguide is generally structured as an anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW), which comprises a Fabry-Perot reflector adjacent to the core layer, whereby light is substantially prevented from leaking out of said core in a transverse direction.