Patent attributes
A laser sensor for detecting a particle density includes: a laser configured to emit a measurement beam, an optical arrangement being arranged to focus the measurement beam to a measurement volume, the optical arrangement having a numerical aperture with respect to the measurement beam, a detector configured to determine a self-mixing interference signal of a optical wave within a laser cavity of the laser, and an evaluator. The evaluator is configured to: receive detection signals generated by the detector in reaction to the determined self-mixing interference signal, determine an average transition time of particles passing the measurement volume in a predetermined time period based on a duration of the self-mixing interference signals generated by the particles, determine a number of particles based on the self-mixing interference signals in the predetermined time period, and determine the particle density based on the average transition time and the number of particles.
