Patent ID: 7823215
Filing Date: 2010-10-26
Classification: G01J,G01N,G01Q,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A multi-energy microscopy system comprising: (a) at least one energy source for irradiating a target and/or sample with at least one quantity of light and at least one quantity of energy, the at least one quantity of light comprising at least one wavelength of light and the at least one quantity of energy comprising at least one wavelength of energy, wherein the wavelength of the energy is either shorter or longer than the wavelength of the at least one quantity of light; (b) a polarization-state generator for generating a polarization state for each quantity of light, the polarization-state generator comprising at least one polarizer, each polarizer being adapted to polarize an individual wavelength before the one or more quantities of light enter a first waveplate; (c) a polarization-state receiver for evaluating a resulting polarization state of each of the one or more quantities of light following illumination of the target and/or sample, the polarization-state receiver comprising a second waveplate through which the one or more quantities of light are transmitted before entering at least one second polarizer; (d) an image-capture device for capturing at least a first image and a second image of the target and/or sample irradiated by the at least one quantity of light and the at least one quantity of energy, the first image corresponding to an image of the target and/or sample generated from the wavelength of light and the second image corresponding to an image of the target and/or sample generated from the wavelength of energy; (e) at least one near-field optics device; (f) at least one of a polar contrast agent, a fluorescent particle, a nanoparticle or a combination of any two or more thereof, wherein the one or more polar contrast agents, one or more fluorescent particles, one or more nanoparticles, or combination thereof is/are administered to the target and/or sample or the purpose of enhancing the contrast between different areas or regions of the target and/or sample; and (g) a processing unit for assigning a weighting factor to at least one of the first and second images and evaluating a weighted difference between the first and second images to generate a multi-wavelength image of the target and/or sample, wherein the microscopy system utilizes/implements Stark-effect imaging.