Granted Patent B2

US 12,298,221 · App. 17/935,707 · Granted May 13, 2025

Inventors: Toru Imai (Tokyo, JP); Sadao Ota (Tokyo, JP)

Assignees: ThinkCyte K.K.; The University of Tokyo

G01N15/1459G01N15/1434G01N2015/1006G01N2015/144

Abstract

Claims (32)

1. An observation device comprising:

a light source;

an aperture member comprising an aperture;

a flow channel configured to direct an object to flow;

an objective lens;

an optical structure disposed at a position which is conjugate with another position that the aperture member is disposed, wherein the optical structure comprises:

a phase changing region configured to generate a phase modified light by modulating a phase of a first portion of light from the object; and

a transmitting region configured to generate a transmitted light by transmitting a second portion of the light from the object;

a spatial modulator comprising a plurality of regions with different optical characteristics; wherein the spatial modulator is configured to (1) modulate at least a portion of the phase modified light to generate a first modulated light or (2) modulate at least a portion of the transmitted light to generate a second modulated light; and

a detector configured to detect at least a portion of the first modulated light or at least a portion of the second modulated light.

2. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the detector further comprises a plurality of photodetection elements,

wherein the plurality of photodetection elements are arranged perpendicular to the flow channel.

3. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the detector further comprises a plurality of photodetection elements,

wherein the plurality of photodetection elements are arranged parallel to the flow channel.

4. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the light comprises scattered light or diffracted light.

5. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the light comprises direct light.

6. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the light comprises direct light.

7. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the light comprises scattered light or diffracted light.

8. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the spatial modulator is configured to (1) modulate the at least the portion of the phase modified light to generate the first modulated light and (2) modulate the at least the portion of the transmitted light to generate the second modulated light.

9. The observation device of claim 1 , further comprising a condenser lens positioned between the aperture member and the flow channel.

10. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the aperture comprises a ring shape.

11. The observation device of claim 1 , wherein the phase changing region comprises a ring shape.

12. The observation device of claim 1 , further comprising a phase difference detector configured to detect a phase difference between the phase modified light and the transmitted light.

13. The observation device of claim 12 , further comprising a first mirror configured to direct a first portion of the phase modified light or a first portion of the transmitted light towards the phase difference detector and a second portion of the phase modified light or a second portion of the transmitted light towards the spatial modulator.

14. The observation device of claim 1 , further comprising another optical structure comprising (1) a blocking region or a reflecting region configured to hinder a first fraction of the phase modified light or a first fraction of the transmitted light, and (2) another transmitting region configured to generate another transmitted light by transmitting a second fraction of the phase modified light or a second fraction of the transmitted light.

15. The observation device of claim 14 , wherein the blocking region or the reflection region is a ring shape.

16. The observation device of claim 14 , further comprising a second mirror configured to direct a first part of the phase modified light or the transmitted light towards the another optical structure and a second part of the phase modified light or the transmitted light towards the spatial modulator.

17. The observation device of claim 14 , further comprising another detector configured to detect the another transmitted light from the another transmitting region.

18. The observation device of claim 14 , further comprising an additional spatial modulator configured to modulate at least a portion of another transmitted light to generate another modulated light.

19. The observation device of claim 18 , further comprising an additional detector configured to detect the another modulated light from the additional spatial modulator.

20. The observation device of claim 1 , further comprising an excitation light source configured to irradiate at least a portion of the flow channel with excitation light.

21. The observation device of claim 1 , further comprising a fluorescence detector configured to detect fluorescence from the object.

Assignments (2)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (400)