Patent ID: 8319965

Claim:
A method of measuring a position of a particle in a flow, comprising: temporally modulating a first illumination beam to produce a first modulated illumination beam; spatially patterning the first modulated illumination beam traveling in a first dimension to produce a first modulated illumination pattern in second and third dimensions; passing the particle, traveling in the second dimension, through the first modulated illumination pattern; detecting a first temporal profile of scattered light, produced by the particle's passing through the first modulated illumination pattern; determining the position of the particle in the third dimension relative to the first illumination pattern based on the first temporal profile of the detected scattered light and a geometrical relationship of the first modulated illumination pattern; temporally modulating a second illumination beam to produce a second modulated illumination beam; spatially patterning the second modulated illumination beam traveling in the third dimension to produce a second modulated illumination pattern in the first and second dimensions; detecting a second temporal profile of a second scattered light, produced by the particle's passing through the second modulated illumination pattern; and determining the position of the particle, in the first dimension relative to the second modulated illumination pattern, based on the second temporal profile of the second scattered light and a geometrical relationship of the second modulated illumination pattern.