Inventors:
William A. Mueller - Dedham MA
Assignee:
Block Engineering, Inc. - Cambridge MA
International Classification:
G01M 2138
Abstract:
A system for discriminating between the fluorescent emission from dye molecules bound to biological particles and the background emission from free molecules of the dye in the solution suspending the particles, where the quantum efficiency of the bound dye molecules because of their bound state, differs from the quantum efficiency of the unbound dye so that the emission from the bound dye exhibits a longer statistical decay lifetime. The system involves irradiating the particles in the solution with a mode locked laser, and measuring fluorescent intensity in delayed synchronism with the mode locking frequency.