Patent ID: 6947136

Claim:
A flow cytometer system, adapted to determine one or more characteristics of an object suspended in a flow stream from an image of the object, comprising: (a) a light source that produces a beam of light; (b) a first reflecting surface and a second reflecting surface maintained in an opposite, facing relationship so as to define a reflection cavity including a field of view traversed by an object, said beam of light being incident upon the first reflecting surface at an acute angle relative to a normal to the first reflecting surface and being reflected back and forth between the first reflecting surface and the second reflecting surface so as to cross the field of view a plurality of times, thereby illuminating the object as it passes through the field of view; (c) a first set of optics disposed so that light traveling from the object passes through the first set of optics so as to produce a first image of the object; and (d) a first light detector disposed so as to receive the image of the object, said first light detector detecting at least one characteristic of the object.