Patent ID: 7002162
Filing Date: 2006-02-21
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A fluorescence lifetime measuring apparatus, comprising: a light source part that produces, from one or more light pulses supplied by one or more pulse light sources, and outputs a first light beam and a second light beam having output timing synchronized with one another; a detection medium that exhibits birefringence in a pulse position of a light pulse in accordance with the intensity thereof; a gate optical system that forms a gate pulse based on said first light beam, and causes said gate pulse to be incident on said detection medium; an excitation optical system that forms an excitation pulse based on said second light beam, and causes said excitation pulse to be incident on a substance undergoing measurement, to generate fluorescence; a fluorescence optical system that irradiates said fluorescence from said substance undergoing measurement onto a prescribed region of said detection medium that includes a light track region in which a change in refractive index has been induced through a nonlinear optical effect due to said gate pulse being incident on said detection medium; and a photodetection part that detects said fluorescence that has passed through the prescribed region of said detection medium; wherein said gate optical system comprises gate pulse polarizing means for putting said gate pulse into a prescribed polarization state, and an incidence optical system that causes said gate pulse to be incident on said detection medium according to prescribed incidence conditions; said fluorescence optical system comprises fluorescence polarizing means for putting said fluorescence into a prescribed polarization state; and said photodetection part comprises analyzing means that transmits only a prescribed polarized component out of said fluorescence that has passed through the prescribed region of said detection medium, photodetection means that detects and observes said fluorescence that has been transmitted through said analyzing means, and image-forming means that forms said fluorescence that has passed through the prescribed region of said detection medium and been transmitted through said analyzing means into an image on said photodetection means to produce a fluorescence image; whereby the change over time in said fluorescence is measured from said fluorescence image by utilizing the movement with time of the pulse position where birefringence is exhibited in said light track region.