Devices and methods for optically identifying characteristics of material objects

A method for identifying properties of a material object, the method comprising:

• independently controlling the emission of light having distinct spectral distributions from at least five distinct light sources;
• scattering from the object the emitted light;
• detecting the scattered light with one or more optical detectors that produce signals representative of the detected light, wherein the signals comprise an optical interaction signature correlated with a density of states property of the material;
• and
• associating the signals with reference signals of a reference object.

A method for identifying properties of a material object, the method comprising:

• generating light using four or more independently controlled light sources having three or more distinct spectral distributions;
• irradiating the object with the light;
• detecting from the object radiation signals representative of a response of the object to the light;
• and
• identifying a property of the object by analysis of the radiation signals, wherein the identifying step comprises comparing the radiation signals to reference data representing properties of a reference object, wherein the reference data is derived from a training procedure.

A method for identifying properties of a material object, the method comprising:

• generating light using three or more light sources having three or more distinct spectral distributions, wherein the light sources are positioned on a first side of an optical barrier;
• irradiating the object with the light;
• changing the relative positions of the optical barrier and the object;
• determining a plurality of distances between the optical barrier and the object;
• detecting from the object radiation signals representative of a response of the object to the light at each of the plurality of distances, wherein the detecting uses optical detectors positioned on a second side of the optical barrier;
• and
• associating a property of the object with a reference property of a reference object using multivariate analysis of the radiation signals.

A method of photometric analysis of a material object, the method comprising the steps of:

• irradiating the object with four or more light sources having substantially distinct wavelength envelopes, wherein the irradiating comprises activating the light sources in a sequence of distinct combinations, wherein the distinct combinations have an average temporal separation of less than 100 ms;
• detecting radiation from the object with a collection of spatially distributed light detectors to produce detected signals;
• synchronizing the detected signals with the activation of the sequence of distinct combinations of the light sources to produce associated combinations of detected signals;
• and
• analyzing the combinations of detected signals to determine a physical property of the object.