Particle Measuring Systems, Inc.

James M Lumpkin

Brian A Knollenberg

Daniel Rodier

Dwight A Sehler

John R Mitchell

Mehran Vahdani Moghaddam

Matthew Melton

Timothy A Ellis

Thomas Ramin

Dwight Sehler

Chris Bonino

The present invention relates to interferometric detection of particles and optical detection of particles having size dimensions less than or equal to 100 nm. Systems and methods are provided exhibiting enhanced alignment and stability for interferometric detection of particles and/or optical detection of particles having size dimensions less than or equal to 100 nm. Systems and methods are provided that include compensation means for mitigating the impact of internal and external stimuli and changes in operating conditions that can degrade the sensitivity and reliability of particle detection via optical methods, including interferometric-based techniques and/or systems for optical detection of particles having size dimensions less than or equal to 100 nm.

Advanced systems and methods for interferometric particle detection and detection of particles having small size dimensions

Provided herein are optical systems and methods for detecting and characterizing particles. Systems and method are provided which increase the sensitivity of an optical particle counter and allow for detection of smaller particles while analyzing a larger fluid volume. The described systems and methods allow for sensitive and accurate detection and size characterization of nanoscale particles (e.g., less than 50 nm, optionally less than 20 nm, optionally less than 10 nm) for large volumes of analyzed fluids.

Particle detection systems and methods for on-axis particle detection and/or differential detection

Provided herein are systems and methods of optical particle counters which account and adjust for the refractive index of the carrier fluid being analyzed. The provided systems are robust and may be implemented in a variety of optical particle counters including obscured light, reflected light, emitted light and scattered light particle counters. The described systems may be useful with any fluid, including gases or liquids. In some cases, the system can account for the differences in refractive index between two liquids, for example, ultrapure water and an acid, such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, acetic, phosphoric, chromic phosphoric, and the like. By accounting for the refractive index of the carrier fluid, the described systems and methods are also more sensitive and able to more accurately detect and characterize smaller particles, including nanoscale sized particles.

Fluid refractive index optimizing particle counter

This invention relates to optical particle counters and methods capable of effectively distinguishing signals generated from particle light scattering from sources of noise. Embodiments of the invention, for example, use multisensory detector configurations for identifying and distinguishing signals corresponding to fluctuations in laser intensity from signals corresponding to particle light scattering for the detection and characterization of submicron particles. In an embodiment, for example, methods and systems of the invention compare signals from different detector elements of a detector array to identify and characterize noise events, such as noise generated from laser intensity instability, thereby allow for the detection and characterization of smaller particles. The system and methods of the present invention, thus, provide an effective means of reducing false positives caused by noise or interference while allowing for very sensitive particle detection.

Laser noise detection and mitigation in particle counting instruments

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

James M Lumpkin