Abstract: An ellipsometer includes an integrated focusing system with a beam splitter between the sample and the ellipsometer detector. The beam splitter provides a portion of the radiation to a lens system that magnifies any deviation from a best focus position by at least 2×. The focusing system includes a 2D sensor, where the spot of light focused on the sensor is 50 percent or smaller than the sensor. The focusing system may further include a compensator to correct optical aberrations caused by the beam splitter. A processor receives an image signal and finds the location of the spot from which focus error can be determined and used to correct the focal position of the ellipsometer. The processor compensates for movement of the spot caused by rotating optics. Additionally, a proportional-integral-derivative controller may be used to control exposure time and/or gain of the camera.

Abstract: An ellipsometer includes an integrated focusing system with a beam splitter between the sample and the ellipsometer detector. The beam splitter provides a portion of the radiation to a lens system that magnifies any deviation from a best focus position by at least 2×. The focusing system includes a 2D sensor, where the spot of light focused on the sensor is 50 percent or smaller than the sensor. The focusing system may further include a compensator to correct optical aberrations caused by the beam splitter. A processor receives an image signal and finds the location of the spot from which focus error can be determined and used to correct the focal position of the ellipsometer. The processor compensates for movement of the spot caused by rotating optics. Additionally, a proportional-integral-derivative controller may be used to control exposure time and/or gain of the camera.

Abstract: An ellipsometer includes an integrated focusing system with a beam splitter between the sample and the ellipsometer detector. The beam splitter provides a portion of the radiation to a lens system that magnifies any deviation from a best focus position by at least 2×. The focusing system includes a 2D sensor, where the spot of light focused on the sensor is 50 percent or smaller than the sensor. The focusing system may further include a compensator to correct optical aberrations caused by the beam splitter. A processor receives an image signal and finds the location of the spot from which focus error can be determined and used to correct the focal position of the ellipsometer. The processor compensates for movement of the spot caused by rotating optics. Additionally, a proportional-integral-derivative controller may be used to control exposure time and/or gain of the camera.

Abstract: An ellipsometer includes an integrated focusing system with a beam splitter between the sample and the ellipsometer detector. The beam splitter provides a portion of the radiation to a lens system that magnifies any deviation from a best focus position by at least 2×. The focusing system includes a 2D sensor, where the spot of light focused on the sensor is 50 percent or smaller than the sensor. The focusing system may further include a compensator to correct optical aberrations caused by the beam splitter. A processor receives an image signal and finds the location of the spot from which focus error can be determined and used to correct the focal position of the ellipsometer. The processor compensates for movement of the spot caused by rotating optics. Additionally, a proportional-integral-derivative controller may be used to control exposure time and/or gain of the camera.

Abstract: A camera alignment system that can enable alignment in at least one of three planes and about an axis of at least one of the planes. An alignment mount can mate to a camera and lens. The alignment mount can comprise a mechanism to adjust the camera relative to the lens to that an image plane of the camera aligns with an image plane of the lens in a predetermined orientation. One predetermined orientation can be that the image plane of the camera being parallel to the image plane of the lens.

Abstract: A camera alignment system that can enable alignment in at least one of three planes and about an axis of at least one of the planes. An alignment mount can mate to a camera and lens. The alignment mount can comprise a mechanism to adjust the camera relative to the lens to that an image plane of the camera aligns with an image plane of the lens in a predetermined orientation. One predetermined orientation can be that the image plane of the camera being parallel to the image plane of the lens.

Abstract: A camera alignment system that can enable alignment in at least one of three planes and about an axis of at least one of the planes. An alignment mount can mate to a camera and lens. The alignment mount can comprise a mechanism to adjust the camera relative to the lens to that an image plane of the camera aligns with an image plane of the lens in a predetermined orientation. One predetermined orientation can be that the image plane of the camera being parallel to the image plane of the lens.

Abstract: A camera alignment system that can enable alignment in at least one of three planes and about an axis of at least one of the planes. An alignment mount can mate to a camera and lens. The alignment mount can comprise a mechanism to adjust the camera relative to the lens to that an image plane of the camera aligns with an image plane of the lens in a predetermined orientation. One predetermined orientation can be that the image plane of the camera being parallel to the image plane of the lens.

Abstract: An optical instrument using a plurality of lasers of different colors with parallel, closely spaced beams to stimulate scattering and fluorescence from fluorescent biological particulate matter, including cells and large molecules. A large numerical aperture objective lens collects fluorescent light while maintaining spatial separation of light stimulated by the different sources. The collected light is imaged into a plurality of fibers, one fiber associated with each optical source, which conducts light to a plurality of arrays of detectors, with each array associated with light from one of the fibers and one of the lasers. A detector array has up to ten detectors arranged to separate and measure colors within relatively narrow bands by decimation of light arriving in a fiber.

Abstract: A prism-based cytometry excitation optics system redirects, shapes and combines plural beams provided by light sources, so they can be focused by an objective into closely spaced spots within the channel of a cytometry flow cell. The mounted set of dispersive prisms redirect beams of different wavelengths so that beams with separated inputs emerge from the final prism, substantially overlapping in position and nearly parallel to one another. Preferred embodiments having a mounted set of four distinct isosceles triangular prisms are described with particular orientations and positions, but the specific design parameters may vary depending on the choice of beam wavelengths, spot separations in the flow cell, and choice of prism material. The prism system has inherently better thermal and long-term stability compared to mirror-based optics.

Abstract: An optical instrument using a plurality of lasers of different colors with parallel, closely spaced beams to stimulate scattering and fluorescence from fluorescent biological particulate matter, including cells and large molecules. A large numerical aperture objective lens collects fluorescent light while maintaining spatial separation of light stimulated by the different sources. The collected light is imaged into a plurality of fibers, one fiber associated with each optical source, which conducts light to a plurality of arrays of detectors, with each array associated with light from one of the fibers and one of the lasers. A detector array has up to ten detectors arranged to separate and measure colors within relatively narrow bands by decimation of light arriving in a fiber.

Abstract: An optical instrument using a plurality of lasers of different colors with parallel, closely spaced beams to stimulate scattering and fluorescence from fluorescent biological particulate matter, including cells and large molecules. A large numerical aperture objective lens collects fluorescent light while maintaining spatial separation of light stimulated by the different sources. The collected light is imaged into a plurality of fibers, one fiber associated with each optical source, which conducts light to a plurality of arrays of detectors, with each array associated with light from one of the fibers and one of the lasers. A detector array has up to ten detectors arranged to separate and measure colors within relatively narrow bands by decimation of light arriving in a fiber.

Abstract: A flow cytometry lens system features a low (<1.55) refractive index, near hemispheric plano-convex lens nearest a cytometry flow cell with the planar surface on the object side of the system and a convex surface with a radius of curvature in a range from 3.5 to 5.5 mm, followed by a pair of positive meniscus lenses having the concave sides facing the object side, with the surfaces of the second meniscus lens less sharply curved than the corresponding surfaces of the first meniscus lens, which in turn is followed by a positive doublet lens. The lens elements are optimized for providing a working distance of at least 1.75 mm, a field of view of at least 400 &mgr;m, a numerical aperture of at least 1.19 and a lens magnification in excess of 10.