Optical probe having an imaging apparatus
First Claim
1. An imaging apparatus for imaging a viewing region, the apparatus including a collection of optical elements arranged in a predetermined sequence along both a first and a second optical path and cooperable to define a dark-field optical arrangement along the first path and a bright-field optical arrangement along the second path, the improvement comprising:
- an optical element which receives light from the viewing region and directs and passes the light from the viewing region simultaneously to both the dark-field optical arrangement and the bright-field optical arrangement, so that a dark-field image of the viewing region is imaged onto a first image plane and a bright-field image of the viewing region is imaged onto a second image plane.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An imaging apparatus includes a collection of optical elements arranged in a predetermined sequence and cooperable to define a dark-field optical arrangement and a bright-field optical arrangement. The dark-field optical arrangement and a bright-field optical arrangement may be defined along the same or different optical path(s). At least one of the optical elements is operative to enable at least one of the dark field or the bright-field optical arrangements. In a first embodiment said one optical element is movable from a first to a second position to enable either the dark-field or the bright-field optical arrangement. In a second embodiment said one optical element is operable to enable simultaneously both the dark-field and the bright-field optical arrangements. Both opaque objects and phase objects in a fluid stream are able to be detected and quantified.
50 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An imaging apparatus for imaging a viewing region, the apparatus including a collection of optical elements arranged in a predetermined sequence along both a first and a second optical path and cooperable to define a dark-field optical arrangement along the first path and a bright-field optical arrangement along the second path, the improvement comprising:
an optical element which receives light from the viewing region and directs and passes the light from the viewing region simultaneously to both the dark-field optical arrangement and the bright-field optical arrangement, so that a dark-field image of the viewing region is imaged onto a first image plane and a bright-field image of the viewing region is imaged onto a second image plane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An optical probe capable of detecting in a fluid stream moving through a viewing region both an object detectable by a bright-field optical arrangement and an object detectable by a dark-field optical arrangement, said probe comprising:
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an optical source assembly having a light source, a plate having an aperture therein, the aperture having a predetermined shape for defining a beam of light, and a lens arrangement for projecting the beam of light into the viewing region to illuminate the same; an optical detector assembly including a first lens arrangement, a spatial filter, and a second lens arrangement, the spatial filter corresponding in size and shape to the aperture in the optical source assembly, the first lens arrangement focusing the illuminated portion of the viewing region onto the spatial filter to create a spatially filtered image of the viewing region, and the second lens arrangement focusing the spatially filtered image onto an image plane; an actuator for positioning at least one of the aperture plate or the spatial filter into predetermined first and second positions with respect to each other, wherein, when in the first position the spatial filter and the aperture in the aperture plate are substantially aligned and when in the second position the spatial filter and the aperture in the aperture plate are substantially misaligned;
so thatwhen in the first position, only light from a dark-field-detectable object in a fluid moving through the viewing region is imaged onto the image plane while light from a bright-field-detectable object is substantially attenuated by the spatial filter, and when in the second position, substantially all the light illuminating the viewing region is imaged onto the image plane. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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18. An optical probe capable of simultaneously detecting in a fluid stream moving through a viewing region both an object detectable by a bright-field optical arrangement and an object detectable by a dark-field optical arrangement, said probe comprising:
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an optical source assembly having a light source, a plate having an aperture therein, the aperture having a predetermined shape for defining a beam of light, and a lens arrangement for projecting the beam of light into the viewing region to illuminate the same; an optical detector assembly including a first lens arrangement, a reflective beam stop, a second lens arrangement, and a third lens arrangement, the beam stop corresponding in size and shape to the aperture in the optical source assembly, the first lens arrangement focusing the illuminated portion of the viewing region onto the beam stop to create both a bright-field spatially filtered image and a dark-field spatially filtered image of the viewing region, the second lens arrangement focusing the bright-field spatially filtered image reflected by the beam stop onto a first image plane, the third lens arrangement focusing the dark-field spatially filtered image onto a second image plane, so that; light from a bright-field-detectable object in a fluid moving through the viewing region is imaged onto the first image plane, and light from a dark-field-detectable object in a fluid moving through the viewing region is imaged onto the second image plane.
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Specification