Abstract: A method of characterising particles in a sample, comprising: obtaining a scattering measurement comprising a time series of measurements of scattered light from a detector, the scattered light produced by the interaction of an illuminating light beam with the sample; producing a corrected scattering measurement, comprising compensating for scattering contributions from contaminants by reducing a scattering intensity in at least some time periods of the scattering measurement; determining a particle characteristic from the corrected scattering measurement.

Abstract: An apparatus for particle characterisation, comprising: a sample cell for holding a sample; a light source configured to illuminate the sample with an illuminating beam and a plurality of light detectors, each light detector configured to receive scattered light resulting from the interaction between the illuminating beam and the sample along a respective detector path, wherein each respective detector path is at substantially the same angle to the illuminating beam.

Abstract: In one general aspect, an electrophoretic measurement method is disclosed that includes providing a vessel that holds a dispersant, providing a first electrode immersed in the dispersant, and providing a second electrode immersed in the dispersant. A sample is placed at a location within the dispersant between the first and second electrodes with the sample being separated from the electrodes, an alternating electric field is applied across the electrodes, and the sample is illuminated with temporally coherent light. A frequency shift is detected in light from the step of illuminating that has interacted with the sample during the step of applying an alternating electric field, and a property of the sample is derived based on results of the step of detecting.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for characterising a sample comprising particles is disclosed. The method comprises performing a first measurement on the sample using a first particle characterisation technique; flowing the sample from the first particle characterisation technique to a particle separating device; separating the sample with the particle separating device; and performing a second measurement on the separated sample. The apparatus is configured to perform the method, and comprises a measurement system for performing measurements according to a first particle characterisation technique and a particle separating device for separating samples comprising particles.

Abstract: A method of characterising particles in a sample, comprising: obtaining a scattering measurement comprising a time series of measurements of scattered light from a detector, the scattered light produced by the interaction of an illuminating light beam with the sample; producing a corrected scattering measurement, comprising compensating for scattering contributions from contaminants by reducing a scattering intensity in at least some time periods of the scattering measurement; determining a particle characteristic from the corrected scattering measurement.

Abstract: A method of determining particle size distribution from multi-angle dynamic light scattering data, comprising: obtaining a series of measured correlation functions g(?i) at scattering angles ?i; and solving an equation comprising [ g ? ( ? 1 ) … g ? ( ? n ) ] = [ ? 1 ? K ? ( ? 1 ) … ? n ? K ? ( ? n ) ] ? x , wherein: K(?i) is the instrument scattering matrix computed for angle i, x is the particle size distribution, and ?i is the scaling coefficient for angle i. The method comprises using the steps: a) providing initial estimates for scaling factors ?2 to ?n, and defining ?1=1; b) iterating scaling factors ?2 to ?n using a non-linear solver; c) solving for x using a linear solver; d) calculate residual; e) repeat steps b) to d) while the residual is greater than a predefined exit tolerance.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of characterizing particles in a sample. The method comprises illuminating the sample in a sample cell with a light beam, so as to produce scattered light by the interaction of the light beam with the sample; obtaining a time series of measurements of the scattered light from a single detector; determining, from the time series of measurements from the single detector, which measurements were taken at times when a large particle was contributing to the scattered light; determining a particle size distribution, including correcting for light scattered by the large particle.

Abstract: An apparatus for particle characterisation, comprising: a sample cell for holding a sample; a light source configured to illuminate the sample with an illuminating beam and a plurality of light detectors, each light detector configured to receive scattered light resulting from the interaction between the illuminating beam and the sample along a respective detector path, wherein each respective detector path is at substantially the same angle to the illuminating beam.

Abstract: A particle-sizing instrument is provided, comprising: a sample cell for receiving a sample comprising a plurality of particles; a light source configured to illuminate the sample with a light beam to produce scattered light by the interaction of the light beam with the particles; a first optical system comprising a first and second optical element respectively configured to split a portion of the scattered light into a first and second portion of scattered light: a second optical system configured to receive the first and second portion of scattered light from the first optical system, and to recombine the first and second portion of scattered light to produce an interference signal at a detection location, and a detector configured to detect the interference signal at the detection location.

Abstract: A fluid characterization measuring instrument is disclosed that comprises a sample vessel for a bulk complex sample fluid having a capacity that is substantially larger than a domain size of the complex sample fluid and that is sufficiently large to cause bulk scattering effects to substantially exceed surface effects for the complex fluid sample, a coherent light source positioned to illuminate the bulk complex sample fluid in the sample vessel and a first fibre having a first end positioned to receive backscattered light from the sample after it has interacted with the sample. The first fibre can also be positioned close enough to an optical axis of the coherent light source and to the sample vessel to substantially decrease a contribution of multiply scattered light in the backscattered light.

Abstract: A method of characterising particles in a sample, comprising: obtaining a scattering measurement comprising a time series of measurements of scattered light from a detector, the scattered light produced by the interaction of an illuminating light beam with the sample; producing a corrected scattering measurement, comprising compensating for scattering contributions from contaminants by reducing a scattering intensity in at least some time periods of the scattering measurement; determining a particle characteristic from the corrected scattering measurement.

Abstract: Method of characterizing particles suspended in a fluid dispersant by light diffraction, comprising: obtaining measurement data from a detector element, the detector element being arranged to measure the intensity of scattered light; identifying a measurement contribution arising from light scattered by inhomogeneities in the dispersant; processing the measurement data to remove or separate the measurement contribution arising from light scattered by inhomogeneities in the dispersant; calculating a particle size distribution from the processed measurement. The detector element is one of a plurality of detector elements from which the measurement data is obtained. The detector elements are arranged to measure the intensity of scattered light at a plurality of scattering angles, the plurality of scattering angles distributed over a plurality of angles about an illumination axis.

Abstract: An apparatus for particle characterisation, comprising: a sample cell for holding a sample; a light source configured to illuminate the sample with an illuminating beam and a plurality of light detectors, each light detector configured to receive scattered light resulting from the interaction between the illuminating beam and the sample along a respective detector path, wherein each respective detector path is at substantially the same angle to the illuminating beam.

Abstract: A method of estimating a parameter for fitting a multi-component Taylorgram model to Taylorgram data g(t) is disclosed. The data comprises a multi-component Taylorgram peak or front at t=tr. The method comprises: evaluating a value of an integration or differential of the data; determining the parameter, based on an analytical expression that includes the value of the integral or differential of the data, the parameter corresponding with a physical property of a sample from which the Taylorgram data was obtained.

Abstract: A particle characterisation instrument, comprising a light source, a sample cell, an optical element between the light source and sample cell and a detector. The optical element is configured to modify light from the light source to create a modified beam, the modified beam: a) interfering with itself to create an effective beam in the sample cell along an illumination axis and b) diverging in the far field to produce a dark region along the illumination axis that is substantially not illuminated at a distance from the sample cell. The detector is at the distance from the sample cell, and is configured to detect light scattered from the effective beam by a sample in the sample cell, the detector positioned to detect forward or back scattered light along a scattering axis that is at an angle of 0° to 10° from the illumination axis.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods and apparatus for determining properties of a surface.

Abstract: A method of characterising particles (140) by using a processor (301) to identify a particle boundary (165) of at least one particle (140) in an image (135, 171). The method comprises processing the image (135, 171) using a thresholding method to determine a first boundary (160a) corresponding with the at least one particle (140) and processing the image (135, 171) using an edge detection method to determine a second boundary (160b) corresponding with at the least one particle (140). The first boundary (160a) and second boundary (160b) are combined to create a combined boundary (160). A particle boundary (165) of the at least one particle (140) is determined using the combined boundary. A parameter used by the edge detection method is adaptive, and determined with reference to the image (135, 171).

Abstract: A method of determining a relationship between a mutual diffusion co-efficient Dm and the concentration c of a solute within a solvent. The method comprises: obtaining a Taylorgram comprising a plurality of measurements of solute concentration c; and deriving from the Taylorgram a plurality of mutual diffusion coefficient values Dm corresponding with a plurality of different concentrations c of solute in the solvent.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of characterizing particles in a sample. The method comprises illuminating the sample in a sample cell with a light beam, so as to produce scattered light by the interaction of the light beam with the sample; obtaining a time series of measurements of the scattered light from a single detector; determining, from the time series of measurements from the single detector, which measurements were taken at times when a large particle was contributing to the scattered light; determining a particle size distribution, including correcting for light scattered by the large particle.

Abstract: A particle characterization apparatus is disclosed comprising: a first light source; a second light source, a sample cell; a first detector and a second detector. The first light source is operable to illuminate a first region of a sample comprising dispersed particles within the sample cell with a first light beam along a first light beam axis so as to produce scattered light by interactions of the first light beam with the sample. The first detector is configured to detect the scattered light. The second light source is operable to illuminate a second region of the sample with a second light beam along a second light beam axis. The second detector is an imaging detector, configured to image the particles along an imaging axis using the second light beam. The first light beam axis is at an angle of at least 5 degrees to the second light beam axis.