Parabolic cell analyzer

Claim 2

A cell analysis apparatus comprising: a housing containing a paraboloidal cavity having an axis of rotation, a focus, and light reflecting walls; means for passing cells to be analyzed through said focus of said paraboloidal cavity; means for directing a beam of essentially parallel light rays through said focus so as to impinge upon any cells passing therethrough; and means for selectively collecting light reflected by cells passing through said beam at said focus to determine therefrom preselected characteristics of said cells.

Claim 3

The invention of claim 1 wherein substantially all said reflected light is collected to provide a total scatter signal.

Claim 4

The invention of claim 1 wherein said selective light collecting means comprises means for collecting only light reflected from said cavity walls which exits said cavity parallel to its axis of rotation.

Claim 5

The invention of claim 3 wherein said collecting means comprises a spatial filter.

Claim 6

The invention of claim 3 wherein said collecting means comprises a photodetector ring array.

Claim 7

The invention of claim 5 wherein said array comprises about sixty detectors dispersed about every 5.6 degrees.

Claim 8

A cell analysis apparatus comprising: a housing containing a paraboloidal cavity having an axis of rotation, a focus, and light reflecting walls; means for passing cells to be analyzed substantially through said focus of said paraboloidal cavity; means for directing a beam of essentially parallel light of a selected wavelength through said focus to impinge upon any cell passing therethrough and to cause said cell to fluoresce; and means for selectively collecting light fluoresced by said cells passing through said beam at said focus to determine therefrom certain cellular characteristics.

Claim 9

A cell analysis apparatus comprising: a housing containing a paraboloidal cavity having an axis of rotation, a focus, and light reflecting walls; means for passing cells to be analyzed substantially through said focus of said paraboloidal cavity; means for directing a beam of essentially parallel light of a selected wavelength through said focus to impinge upon any cell passing therethrough and to cause said cell to fluoresce; and means for selectively collecting light fluoresced by said cells passing through said beam at said focus to determine therefrom certain cellular characteristics.

Claim 10

The invention of claim 7 wherein said collecting means comprises a spatial filter for passing only fluoresced light travelling parallel to said axis of rotation, a diffraction grating for receiving said parallel fluoresced light and for diffracting said light in at least a first order diffraction spectrum, means for focusing said first order diffraction spectrum onto a focal plane, and means for quantitatively detecting the diffraction spectrum incident on said focal plane.

Claim 11

The invention of claim 8 wherein said quantitative detecting means comprises a plurality of photomultiplier tubes.

Claim 12

A chamber structure for use in a cell analysis system comprising: a housing containing a paraboloidal cavity having a focus and an axis of rotation; means for passing a laser beam through said focus and essentially perpendicular to said axis of rotation; and means comprising a nozzle protruding into said chamber structure essentially perpendicular to said axis of rotation and said laser beam for passing a stream of cells to be analyzed through said beam essentially at said focus.

Claim 13

A chamber structure for use in a cell analysis system comprising: a housing containing a paraboloidal cavity having a focus and an axis of rotation; means for passing a laser beam through said focus and essentially perpendicular to said axis of rotation; and means comprising a nozzle protruding into said chamber structure essentially perpendicular to said axis of rotation and said laser beam for passing a stream of cells to be analyzed through said beam essentially at said focus.