DOUBLY-DIFFERENTIAL INTERFEROMETER AND METHOD FOR EVANESCENT WAVE SURFACE DETECTION
First Claim
1. An optical sensing platform for detecting and/or measuring the amount of a substance in a sample using an interferometric surface detection technique, the platform comprising:
- at least one pair of optical channels, comprising;
a first optical channel having an upper measurement surface for contact with the sample, and a second optical channel having an upper surface for contact with a reference sample;
a light source for introducing optical beams into the at least one pair of optical channels;
a light modulator; and
a phase detector for detecting optical phase differences between the respective optical beams from the at least one pair of first and second optical channels.
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Abstract
A high speed, highly sensitive optical sensing platform and a method for detecting and/or measuring characteristics of a substance in a measurement sample are disclosed. The platform includes at least one pair of optical paths formed in a waveguide, a light source for injecting optical beams along the optical paths, a light modulator for enabling the excitement of a transverse electric and a transverse magnetic guide modes, and a phase detector for detecting phase differences between the beams propagating along the optical paths. One of the optical paths has a target analyte of unknown concentration with a measurement sample bound to its upper surface, while the second optical path has a reference sample containing a known concentration of the target analyte bound to its upper surface. A guided mode modulator causes an optical beam to propagate through the waveguide sequentially as two polarized modes. The highly sensitive platform is especially useful for directly detecting and/or measuring very small numbers of small molecules, bio-molecules, microorganisms in a liquid or gaseous test sample.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An optical sensing platform for detecting and/or measuring the amount of a substance in a sample using an interferometric surface detection technique, the platform comprising:
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at least one pair of optical channels, comprising;
a first optical channel having an upper measurement surface for contact with the sample, and a second optical channel having an upper surface for contact with a reference sample;
a light source for introducing optical beams into the at least one pair of optical channels;
a light modulator; and
a phase detector for detecting optical phase differences between the respective optical beams from the at least one pair of first and second optical channels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification