Abstract: It is possible to improve a measurement accuracy of a liquid flow volume, thereby improving reproducibility of a measured value. Provided is a flow volume measuring device including a light source which emits light to a measuring-target region; a light receiving element which receives light scattered at the measuring-target region from the light emitted from the light source; a contact member having translucency with respect to a wavelength of the emitted light and a wavelength of the scattered light, the contact member including a surface which faces the measuring-target region and with which the measuring-target region is contactable over the entire surface; and a flow volume measuring unit which measures a flow volume of liquid flowing through the measuring-target region based upon the scattered light.

Abstract: It is possible to improve a measurement accuracy of a liquid flow volume, thereby improving reproducibility of a measured value. Provided is a flow volume measuring device including a light source which emits light to a measuring-target region; a light receiving element which receives light scattered at the measuring-target region from the light emitted from the light source; a contact member having translucency with respect to a wavelength of the emitted light and a wavelength of the scattered light, the contact member including a surface which faces the measuring-target region and with which the measuring-target region is contactable over the entire surface; and a flow volume measuring unit which measures a flow volume of liquid flowing through the measuring-target region based upon the scattered light.

Abstract: An electronic device according to one aspect includes a blood flow data acquisition unit configured to acquire information related to blood flowing inside a living body as blood flow data based on Doppler shift, a power spectrum calculator configured to calculate a power spectrum of the blood flow data based on the blood flow data, and an outline index calculator configured to calculate an outline index from the power spectrum. An electronic device according to one aspect further includes an estimator configured to estimate viscosity of the blood based on the outline index, and the estimator is configured to display an estimation result of the viscosity of the blood on a display.

Abstract: Disclosed is a reflective encoder which is capable of measuring movement amount and detecting movement direction by using one emergent light beam, and achieving high reliability and miniaturization through a simple structure. In the reflective encoder, a light beam emitted by a laser oscillator is caused to be incident on a reflective diffraction grating disposed on a side of a scale, and diffracted light beams reflected by the reflective diffraction grating are received by light receiving elements. An interference optical system is provided between the light receiving elements and the reflective diffraction grating. An optical system is thus constructed to measure movement amount and detect movement direction by using only one emergent light beam.

Abstract: A force sensor according to embodiments includes a light-emitting unit, a pair of first light detectors, a reflector, and a first frame. The light-emitting unit emits diffuse light. The first light detectors are arranged in a first direction with the light-emitting unit interposed therebetween. The reflector is arranged to face the light-emitting unit on an optical axis of the light-emitting unit and reflects the diffuse light emitted from the light-emitting unit toward the first light detectors. The first frame is deformed in the first direction so that a reflection range of the diffuse light reflected by the reflector is displaced in the first direction.

Abstract: A force sensor according to embodiments includes a light-emitting unit, a pair of first light detectors, a reflector, and a first frame. The light-emitting unit emits diffuse light. The first light detectors are arranged in a first direction with the light-emitting unit interposed therebetween. The reflector is arranged to face the light-emitting unit on an optical axis of the light-emitting unit and reflects the diffuse light emitted from the light-emitting unit toward the first light detectors. The first frame is deformed in the first direction so that a reflection range of the diffuse light reflected by the reflector is displaced in the first direction.

Abstract: A highly miniaturized biosensor and a sensor unit, which can meet a demand for further miniaturization. With this invention, miniaturization is possible, and the number of production steps including those for assembling individual parts can be reduced. Accordingly, mass production will be possible, and cost reduction and high reliability will be achieved. A light emitting unit (21) and a light receiving unit (22) are disposed in a same recess (24) formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate (23), and a light shielding cover substrate (27) having a first light guide section (25) and a second light guide section (26) is disposed on an upper side of the semiconductor substrate (23).

Abstract: The present invention provides a noninvasive alcohol sensor that measures ethanol concentration with high accuracy by suppressing error dependent on glucose concentration. An alcohol sensor 10 includes first light-emitting means 21, second light-emitting means 22 and third light-emitting means 23. The first light-emitting means 21 radiates light having a wavelength of 1185 nm. This wavelength of 1185 nm is a wavelength at which the light absorbance of water and the light absorbance of ethanol are equal. The second light-emitting means 22 radiates light having a wavelength of 1710 nm. The third light-emitting means 23 radiates light having a wavelength of 1750 nm. Light detection means 30 detects the intensity of each light, and control means 60 calculates ethanol concentration based on the detected light intensity.

Abstract: An emission sensor device includes a base (110), a light applying section (120) disposed on the base and adapted for applying light beams having different wavelengths to a subject in such a way that the light beams at least overlap with one another, and a light receiving section (150) disposed on the base and adapted for detecting light from the subject attributed to the applied light beams for each wavelength. The device has a small size and can collect predetermined types of information on the subject such as bioinformation with high accuracy.

Abstract: A highly miniaturized biosensor and a sensor unit, which can meet a demand for further miniaturization. With this invention, miniaturization is possible, and the number of production steps including those for assembling individual parts can be reduced. Accordingly, mass production will be possible, and cost reduction and high reliability will be achieved. A light emitting unit (21) and a light receiving unit (22) are disposed in a same recess (24) formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate (23), and a light shielding cover substrate (27) having a first light guide section (25) and a second light guide section (26) is disposed on an upper side of the semiconductor substrate (23).

Abstract: A sensor part of a blood flowmeter for measuring a value on blood flow in tissue of a living body is provided, in which the sensor part includes: a light emitter for emitting light to tissue of a living body; and a light detector for receiving scattered light from the tissue; a first shading block for preventing light emitted from the light emitter from directly entering the light detector; a second shading block having a predetermined gap in front of the light detector, wherein the light emitter, the light detector and the shading blocks are integrated on a semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: A sensor part of a blood flowmeter for measuring a value on blood flow in tissue of a living body is provided, in which the sensor part includes: a light emitter for emitting light to tissue of a living body; and a light detector for receiving scattered light from the tissue; a first shading block for preventing light emitted from the light emitter from directly entering the light detector; a second shading block having a predetermined gap in front of the light detector, wherein the light emitter, the light detector and the shading blocks are integrated on a semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: The micro-mirror apparatus of the invention has; a mirror 33, a plurality of torsion springs 35, 36 for supporting the mirror 33 so as to be tiltable relative to an upper substrate 27, a lower substrate 21 arranged facing a lower face of the mirror 33, a convex portion 34 provided on an upper face of the lower substrate 21 and a plurality of lower electrodes 22, 23 formed on an outer face of the convex portion 34. For the torsion spring 36, an aspect ratio of height/width in a cross-section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction thereof is at least 1.8.

Abstract: The micro-mirror apparatus of the invention has; a mirror 33, a plurality of torsion springs 35, 36 for supporting the mirror 33 so as to be tiltable relative to an upper substrate 27, a lower substrate 21 arranged facing a lower face of the mirror 33, a convex portion 34 provided on an upper face of the lower substrate 21 and a plurality of lower electrodes 22, 23 formed on an outer face of the convex portion 34. For the torsion spring 36, an aspect ratio of height/width in a cross-section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction thereof is at least 1.8.

Abstract: An encoder includes a semiconductor laser capable of emitting two coherent light beams from two end faces thereof, respectively. The end faces of the semiconductor laser are arranged such that the coherent light beams intersect each other. The two coherent light beams emitted from the end faces of the semiconductor laser are incident on a scale having a plurality of gratings. The two coherent light beams are diffracted by the gratings, resulting in two diffracted light beams. The two diffracted light beams interfere with each other, and the intensity of the resultant interference light beam is detected by a detector. In response to this detection, the detector produces a signal corresponding to the intensity change which is proportional to the relative moving distance between the detector and the scale.

Abstract: A semiconductor light emitting element, a laser or a light emitting diode which is deposited on a first area of a semiconductor substrate, which also carries a microlens for focusing or diverging an output beam of the light emitting element on a second area of the substrate. Both the light emitting element and the microlens are deposited on a substrate through a photolithoetching process, and an alignment of an optical axis of the light emitting element and an optical axis of the microlens is accomplished in the steps of producing a light emitting semiconductor system. Thus, a semiconductor light emitting system which functions not only to generate light but also to focus or diverge the light, and is small in size and light in weight, can be obtained.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor substrate includes the steps of performing flame electrolysis on a galss source with an oxyhydrogen flame, spray-depositing the resultant glass particles on a joint surface of a semiconductor substrate, placing another semiconductor substrate on the deposited glass particles and performing heat-treatment, and joining the two substrates by sintering the glass particles.

Abstract: A micro optical head, for optically reading and/or writing digital data on a recording medium in which digital data 1 and 0, corresponding to a high reflection factor and a low reflection factor, is composed of a self-coupled semiconductor laser located close to the recording medium. A bias current of the laser is determined so that it is smaller than a first threshold current, in which the medium has a low reflection factor, and is higher than a second threshold current, in which the medium has a high reflection factor. Output light of the laser is either strong stimulated emission light, corresponding to the high reflection factor, or weak spontaneous emission light, corresponding to the low reflection factor. The present head is carried on a flying slider with a spacing length less than several .mu.m which provides a small beam spot of about 1 .mu.m, and has an excellent signal to noise ratio.