1. An optical system for examining and measuring the thickness of one of a transparent and nearly-transparent object, said system comprising: at least one source of radiation; a means for projecting said at least one source of radiation and simultaneously creating a set of foci through a volume of said object; a means for imaging scattered light returned from said set of foci on at least one camera, wherein said scattered light comprises a plurality of narrow entry beams projected substantially at one angle, said narrow entry beams imaged into separate images on said at least one camera, said scattered light being captured at a different angle than said projection of said at least one source of radiation through said volume of said object, so as to allow detection of said scattered light returned from different depths on separate camera pixels to produce three-dimensional volume characteristics of said object.