A method and device is provided for characterizing microscopic elements. A source signal may be chopped by means of microsystems of opto-electromechanical elements (MOEMS), which gives rise to temporal modulation of the excitation signals. The method of characterizing microscopic elements involves propagating a dispersed light source signal, spatially chopping the spectrum of the source signal into at least two excitation signals having predetermined wavelengths λi, coding the excitation signals, focusing the excitation signals in order to generate a sensor signal propagated towards a measurement zone, and analyzing an interaction signal issuing from the interaction of the sensor signal with the microscopic elements situated in the measuring space. The spatial chopping of the spectrum of the source light signal is performed by a microsystem of opto-electromechanical elements (MOEMS).