OPTICAL ANALYSIS DEVICE FOR OBSERVING POLARISATION CHARACTERISTICS OF SINGLE LIGHT-EMITTING PARTICLE, OPTICAL ANALYSIS METHOD AND OPTICAL ANALYSIS COMPUTER PROGRAM THEREFOR

摘要

There is provided an optical analysis technique which observes a polarization characteristic of a light-emitting particle using the scanning molecule counting method using an optical measurement with a confocal microscope or a multiphoton microscope. In the inventive optical analysis technique which observes the polarization characteristic of a light-emitting particle, the light detection region is irradiated with excitation light consisting of predetermined polarized light component(s) and the intensity of at least one polarized light component of the light from the light detection region is detected with moving the position of the light detection region of the optical system in a sample solution by changing the optical path of the optical system of the microscope; a signal of each light-emitting particle is detected individually in the intensity of at least one polarized light component of the detected light; and based on the intensity of at least one polarized light component of the signal of the detected light-emitting particle, the polarization characteristic value of the light-emitting particle is computed. Thereby, the observation of a polarization characteristic of a light-emitting particle at low concentration or number density in the sample solution becomes possible.