Patent ID: 9170208
Filing Date: 2015-10-27
Classification: G01J,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of determining a characteristic of a sample, comprising: directing a handheld characteristic analyzer at the sample, the handheld characteristic analyzer having at least one integrated computational element arranged therein; activating the handheld characteristic analyzer, thereby optically interacting the at least one integrated computational element with the sample and generating optically interacted light; receiving the optically interacted light with at least one detector arranged within the handheld characteristic analyzer; generating an output signal corresponding to the characteristic of the sample with the at least one detector; receiving the output signal with a signal processor communicably coupled to the at least one detector; and determining the characteristic of the sample with the signal processor, wherein an amplitude of the optically interacted light is proportional to a vector product of a regression vector associated with the characteristic of the sample and an input light beam, and wherein the regression vector is represented by a plurality of alternating layers of two materials having different indices of refraction in the integrated computational element, each of the layers having a selected thickness.