On the application of optical forward-scattering to bacterial identification in an automated clinical analysis perspective

The Optical Forward Scattering (OFS) technique can be used to identify pathogens by direct observation of bacteria colonies growing on a culture plate. The identification is based on the acquisition of scattering images from isolated colonies and their subsequent comparison with reference images acquired from known bacteria. The technique has been mainly studied for the identification of pathogens in the food-safety field. This paper focuses on the possibility of extending the applicability of the technique to the field of clinical laboratory automation. This scenario requires that the paradigm of image acquisition at fixed colony-dimension, well established in the food-safety applications, should be substituted by an acquisition at fixed incubation time. As a consequence, the scatterometer must be adjustable in real-time for adapting to the actual features of the bacterial colony. The paper describes an OFS system prototype qualified by the possibility to tune both the laser beam diameter and the acquisition camera field of view. Preliminary experiments on bacteria cultures from pathogens causing infections of the urinary tract show that the proposed approach is promising for the development of an automated bacteria identification station. The new OFS approach also involves an alternative method for building a reference image database for subsequent image analysis

Ge-Doped microstructured multicorefiber for customizable supercontinuum generation

Supercontinuum generation in a multicore fiber in which several uncoupled cores were doped with dissimilar concentrations of germanium was studied experimentally. Germanium doping provided control over the separation between the zero-dispersion wavelength and the 1064-nm wavelength of a Q-switched Nd:YAG pump laser. Supercontinua generated independently in each core of the same piece of fiber displayed clear and repeatable differences due to the influence of germanium doping on refractive index and four-wave mixing. The spectral evolution of the subnanosecond pump pulses injected into the different cores was accurately reproduced by numerical simulations

Chromatic confocal setup for displacement measurement using a supercontinuum light source

Chromatic confocal microscopy is a technique to measure distances by analyzing the spectrum of the light reflected by a sample. The key element of the confocal setup is a dispersive lens, which focuses different wavelengths at different distances from the lens. In this paper,a novel setup realized with a supercontinuum light source and a spatial filter composed by reflective elements is described.The supercontinuum source is implemented by injecting high power pulses from a microchip laser into a Ge-doped microstructured optical fiber. The usage of metallic parabolic mirrors, for the focusing and collimation required in the spatial filter, lets the dispersive lens be the only dispersive element of the confocal setup and improves the efficiency of the spatial filter itself. A silicon-based spectrometer is used for the acquisition of the spectra, which are normalized and Gaussian-fitted before extracting the displacement information. A complete calibration is performed, and the set of wavelengths from 500 nm to 900 nm can be mapped into a280 um measuring range. The obtained relativ eaccuracy of 0.36% shows an enhancement of almost one order of magnitude when compared to other supercontinuum-based confocal systems

Nonlinear polarization dynamics of Kerr beam self-cleaning in a GRIN multimode optical fiber

We experimentally study polarization dynamics of Kerr beam self-cleaning in a graded-index multimode optical fiber. We show that spatial beam cleaning is accompanied by nonlinear polarization rotation, and a substantial increase of the degree of linear polarization.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Efficiency of dispersive wave generation in dual concentric core microstructured fiber

We describe the generation of powerful dispersive waves that are observed when pumping a dual concentric core microstructured fiber by means of a sub-nanosecond laser emitting at the wavelength of~1064 nm. The presence of three zeros in the dispersion curve, their spectral separation from the pump wavelength, and the complex dynamics of solitons originated by the pump pulse break-up, all contribute to boost the amplitude of the dispersive wave on the long-wavelength side of the pump. The measured conversion efficiency towards the dispersive wave at 1548 nm is as high as 50%. Our experimental analysis of the output spectra is completed by the acquisition of the time delays of the different spectral components. Numerical simulations and an analytical perturbative analysis identify the central wavelength of the red-shifted pump solitons and the dispersion profile of the fiber as the key parameters for determining the efficiency of the dispersive wave generation process.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Analog signal pre-processing for performance enhancement of a distance meter based on frequency-modulated continuous-wave interferometry

A method for the processing of signal from an absolute distance meter based on a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) interferometer is presented. FMCW is implemented using a laser diode driven by a current waveform obtained as the superposition of a triangular signal to a bias current kept well above the diode lasing threshold. The analog signal pre-processing includes a derivative block followed by the time-variant baseline restoration of the photodetector current. A high signal-to-noise ratio is ensured by avoiding the use of a resistive transimpedence preamplifier and subsequent voltage processing. The paper details the scheme of the pre-processing chain as well as the experimental results from an actual prototype of a distance meter

Aiding device for reading a printed text

A novel device developed as a rehabilitation tool for people having difficulties in reading printed text is the object of the patent. The proposed system enables the user to randomly access the words of a printed text by directing a handheld pointer that is similar to a pencil. The application of modern information technologies makes it possible the implementation of a device that combines effectiveness, robustness, and friendliness of use. A micro camera is fixed to the pointer and frames the word the user wants to read. A voice synthesizer reproduces the word just recognized. A suitable measurement of the device motion based on real time image processing allows determining when the user has stopped the pointer thus indicating the wish to hear the pointed word(s)

Low cost optical motion sensors: an experimental characterization

Low-cost optical motion sensors commonly used in computer mice are experimentally characterized in view of their use as multiple degree of freedom sensors for industrial applications. Each non-contact optical sensor provides two output channels giving x and y components of the device relative displacement. The experimental activity presented in the paper shows that limitations mainly arise from the device sensitivity to the reference surface texture and from the upper limited working speed. It is shown that, for an effective application, the surface over which the sensor is moving must be cooperative. In case of a typical commercial device working on a white surface, the linearity error evaluated over a single pass trajectory of 200mm is about 0.1% whilst the variability due to the reference surface pattern orientation is of 2%