Patent ID: 7869042

Claim:
Apparatus to be worn on the body for the production and detection of fluorescence at or below a surface, said apparatus comprising: a light source for directing fluorescence excitation light along a light path extending over said surface; a reflector having a three dimensionally curved, shell-like light reflecting interface positioned to receive light from the light source passing over said surface along a portion of said light path and to reflect said light transversely with respect to said portion of the light path so as to focus said light on an illumination zone at or below said surface for stimulation of fluorescence at said zone, and to collect fluorescence light emitted at said zone and to reflect and at least partially collimate said light to pass back along said portion of the light path; a detector for receiving said light emitted as fluorescence after reflection at said interface; and a housing containing the light source, detector and reflector, which housing is configured to be worn on the body, wherein the whole of the light paths from the light source to the reflective interface and from the reflective interface to the detector extend over the said surface.