Pulsed and gated multi-mode microspectrophotometry device and method

A method for detecting emissions from a microscopic portion of a sample, which method comprises:

• optically viewing said microscopic portion through a microscope apparatus;
• irradiating the microscopically viewed portion with an excitation pulse of radiation wherein said pulse passes through at least a portion of said microscope apparatus, said pulse essentially focused on said microscopic portion and said pulse beginning at an initial time t.sub.o and ending after a pulse width time t.sub.pw ;
• detecting a radiative emission spectrum from the irradiated sample portion within a gate controlled time window, said time window beginning at a window start time t.sub.ws and ending after a window width time t.sub.ww measured from said t.sub.ws ;
• wherein said t.sub.ws occurs after said t.sub.o ;
• and
• wherein said pulse is within a narrow band of frequencies, said detected emission is a fluorescence spectral structure over a band of frequencies and which also comprises the step of comparing the detected fluorescence spectral structure to a reference fluorescence spectral structure.

A microspectrophotometry apparatus for determining properties of a microscopic particle within a heterogeneous sample, said apparatus comprising:

• an optical microscope for viewing said particle;
• a pulsable and tunable irradiation source capable of irradiating a first portion of said particle through at least one lens of said microscope an avoiding similarly irradiating a second portion of said particle;
• a radiation detector capable of detecting spectral radiative emissions from the irradiated particle through at least a portion of said microscope;
• and
• means for controlling the time said detector is capable of detecting, so as to create a time window of detecting.

A microspectrophotometry apparatus for viewing and detecting time domain spectral emissions from a particle having a microscopic surface area when viewed, said apparatus comprising:

• an optical microscope for viewing said particle;
• a pulsable laser beam irradiation source capable of irradiating a first portion of an area essentially within the boundaries of said surface area through at least part of said microscope while avoiding significant irradiation of most of a second portion of said surface area;
• and
• a radiation detector capable of detecting the spectral radiative emissions from said surface area after said irradiating.