Optics is a science which covers a very large domain and is experiencing indisputable growth. It has enabled the development of a considerable number of instruments, the optical component or methodology of which is often the essential part of portent systems. This book sets out show how optical physical phenomena such as lasers – the basis of instruments of measurement – are involved in the fields of biology and medicine. Optics in Instruments: Applications in Biology and Medicine details instruments and measurement systems using optical methods in the visible and near–infrared, as well as their applications in biology and medicine, through looking at confocal laser scanning microscopy, the basis of instruments performing in biological and medical analysis today, and flow cytometry, an instrument which measures at high speed the parameters of a cell passing in front of one or more laser beams. The authors also discuss optical coherence tomography (OCT), which is an optical imaging technique using non–contact infrared light, the therapeutic applications of lasers, where they are used for analysis and care, and the major contributions of plasmon propagation in the field of life sciences through instrumental developments, focusing on propagating surface plasmons (PSP) and localized plasmons (LP). Contents: 1. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy, Thomas Olivier and Baptiste Moine. 2. Flow Cytometry (FCM) Measurement of Cells in Suspension, Odile Sabido. 3. Optical Coherence Tomography, Claude Boccara and Arnaud Dubois. 4. Therapeutic Applications of Lasers, Geneviève Bourg–Heckly and Serge Mordon. 5. Plasmonics, Emmanuel Fort.