Patent ID: 9546949
Date: 2017-01-17
CPC Classifications: G01J,G01N,G02B

Claim:
1. An optical computing device, comprising: a light source that emits electromagnetic radiation into an optical train that extends from the light source to a detector, wherein the electromagnetic radiation optically interacts with a substance arranged in the optical train to produce sample interacted radiation; a processor array arranged in the optical train and including a plurality of integrated computational elements (ICE) arranged on a common substrate to optically interact with the electromagnetic radiation and generate a corresponding plurality of beams of modified electromagnetic radiation, wherein one or more of the plurality of ICE comprise alternating thin film layers of materials whose index of refraction is high and low, respectively, and wherein the detector receives the plurality of beams of modified electromagnetic radiation; and a weighting array arranged in the optical train and optically coupled to the processor array, wherein the weighting array includes one or more weighting devices optically aligned with one or more of the plurality of ICE to optically apply a weighting factor to the plurality of beams of modified electromagnetic radiation prior to being received by the detector, and wherein the detector generates an output signal indicative of a characteristic of the substance based on the plurality of beams of modified electromagnetic radiation.