Particle Analysis and Sorting Apparatus and Methods

An apparatus for analyzing an optical signal decay, comprising:

• a source of a beam of pulsed optical energy;
• a sample holder configured to expose a sample to said beam;
• a detector, the detector comprising a number of spectral detection channels, said channels being sensitive to distinct wavelength sections of the electromagnetic spectrum and being configured to detect optical signals resulting from interactions between said beam and said sample, said channels being further configured to convert said optical signals into respective electrical signals;
• a first optical path from said source of said beam to said sample;
• a second optical path from said sample to said detector;
• and
• a signal processing module, capable of:
• receiving said electrical signals from said detector;
• mathematically combining individual decay curves in said electrical signals into a decay supercurve, said supercurve comprising a number of components, each component having a time constant and a relative contribution to said supercurve;
• allocating individual components of said supercurve to discrete bins of predetermined time constants;
• and
• quantifying the relative contribution of individual components to said supercurve.