METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VIEWING A CULTURE MEDIUM HAVING VISIBLE BACTERIAL COLONIES

摘要

The invention is a method and an apparatus for viewing a culture medium (14) having visible bacterial colonies (24). An apparatus in accordance with the invention includes a light source (10), which provides incident light on the culture medium having the visible bacterial colonies; a polarizer (12), which polarizes the incident light; an image-producing device (22) having a field of view, including the culture medium, which provides an image of the field of view; and an analyzer (16), which at least partially blocks reflected polarized light from being transmitted from the bacterial colonies and culture medium to the image-producing device and which passes back-scattered light transmitted from the bacterial colonies and the culture medium to the images-producing device to cause the image-producing device to produce an image of the back-scattered light of the visible bacterial colonies and the culture medium.