Patent ID: 7821636

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