Micro-lasing beads and structures for combinatorial chemistry and other applications, and techniques for fabricating the structures and for detecting information encoded by the structures
First Claim
1. A structure, comprising:
- a core;
at least one gain medium layer disposed about said core for providing a characteristic emission wavelength; and
a functionalized support for attaching to a desired substance.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An elongated structure includes a core, at least one and preferably a plurality of gain medium layers disposed about said core for providing a plurality of characteristic emission wavelengths, and a growth matrix or functionalized support suitable for the synthesis therein or thereon of a chemical compound. Other embodiments can be spherical, or planar with a plurality of optical gain medium dots, each providing a different emission wavelengths. Also disclosed is a technique for selectively locating micro-laser beads of interest, and then aiming a laser source at the bead(s) of interest in order to interrogate the optically encoded identification information. Also disclosed is a bead of a type that includes a functionalized support, and that further includes a gain medium coupled to a structure that supports the creation of at least one mode for electromagnetic radiation, and/or which has a dimension or length in one or more directions for producing and supporting amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The structure can have boundaries that impart an overall geometry to the structure that, in combination with at least one material property of the structure, supports an enhancement of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the gain medium by favoring the creation of at least one mode that enhances an emission of electromagnetic radiation within a narrow band of wavelengths.
-
Citations
35 Claims
-
1. A structure, comprising:
-
a core;
at least one gain medium layer disposed about said core for providing a characteristic emission wavelength; and
a functionalized support for attaching to a desired substance.
-
-
2. A structure, comprising:
-
a core;
a plurality of gain medium layers disposed about said core for providing a plurality of characteristic emission wavelengths, said plurality of gain medium layers being adjacent to isolation layers having a larger index of refraction; and
a functionalized support for attaching to a desired substance.
-
- 3. A multispectral source of light comprising at least one pump laser, means for selectively providing at least one pump wavelength to a plurality of optical channels that comprise at least one Raman-based resonator structure for generating at least one of Red and Blue light, and for illuminating at least one micro-laser bead structure that comprises a functionalized support for attaching to a desired substance.
-
8. A method for fabricating a laser bead structure, comprising steps of:
-
providing a substrate;
depositing a plurality of regions of optical gain material on a surface of said substrate, each region being comprised of a plurality of areas each containing optical gain material, each area being capable of emitting a predetermined wavelength that differs from a wavelength emitted by others of said plurality of areas within said region; and
physically dividing the substrate into a plurality of individual laser bead structures individual ones of which comprise at least one of said areas. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A structure, comprising:
-
a substrate;
a plurality of areas on a surface of said substrate, each of said areas comprising an optical gain medium material capable of emitting a predetermined wavelength that differs from a wavelength emitted by others of said plurality of areas; and
a functionalized support for attaching to a desired substance. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. A method for identifying a particular bead in a population of beads, comprising steps of:
-
providing a population of beads each comprising a functionalized support and means for optically encoding identification information;
using a sensor that is responsive to a desired bead activity for identifying a location of one or more beads of interest within the population;
using the identified location to aim an interrogation beam at a particular bead; and
determining an identification of the particular bead from a plurality of wavelengths emitted by the particular bead in response to the interrogation beam. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
-
-
18. A bead comprising a functionalized support and further comprising a gain medium coupled to a structure that supports the creation of at least one mode for electromagnetic radiation.
-
19. A bead comprising a functionalized support and further comprising a gain medium coupled to a structure having a dimension or length in one or more directions for producing and supporting amplified spontaneous emission (ASE).
- 20. A bead comprising a functionalized support and further comprising an optical gain medium and a structure having boundaries that impart an overall geometry to said structure that, in combination with at least one material property of said structure, supports an enhancement of electromagnetic radiation emitted from the gain medium by favoring the creation of at least one mode that enhances an emission of electromagnetic radiation within a narrow band of wavelengths.
-
23. A method for identifying a bead of a type that comprises a functionalized support, comprising the steps of:
-
providing the bead so as to comprise an optical gain medium and a structure for at least one of (a) favoring the creation of at least one mode or (b) supporting amplified spontaneous emission;
illuminating the bead with light selected for exciting the gain medium;
detecting an emission of at least one wavelength from the bead in response to the step of illuminating; and
identifying the bead from the detected emission. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for processing a population of beads of a type that comprise a functionalized support, comprising the steps of:
-
providing at least some beads of the population so as to comprise an optical gain medium and a structure coupled to said gain medium for at least one of (a) favoring the creation of at least one mode or (b) supporting amplified spontaneous emission, said structure encoding information that is made manifest by an optical emission from said bead;
illuminating at least a portion of the population with light selected for exciting the gain medium;
detecting an emission of at least one wavelength from at least one bead in response to the step of illuminating; and
decoding the information that was encoded in the at least one bead from the detected emission. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
-
-
32. A method for identifying a particular bead in a population of beads in one of a combinatorial chemistry, a screening, or a genomic application, comprising steps of:
-
providing a population of beads each comprising a functionalized support and means for optically encoding identification information;
using a sensor that is responsive to a desired bead activity for identifying a location of one or more beads of interest within the population, said sensor being comprised of at least one of an optical energy detector, an ionizing radiation detector, or a thermal energy detector;
using the identified location to aim an interrogation laser beam at a particular bead; and
determining an identification of the particular bead from a plurality of wavelengths emitted by the particular bead in response to the interrogation laser beam. - View Dependent Claims (33)
-
-
34. A method for identifying a particular bead in a population of beads used in a Lawn Assay, comprising steps of:
-
providing a population of beads each comprising a functionalized support and means for optically encoding identification information;
using a sensor detects bead assay activity for identifying a location of one or more beads of interest within the population, said sensor being comprised of at least one of an optical energy detector, an ionizing radiation detector, or a thermal energy detector;
using the identified location to aim an interrogation laser beam at a particular bead; and
determining an identification of the particular bead from a plurality of wavelengths emitted by the particular bead in response to the interrogation laser beam. - View Dependent Claims (35)
-
Specification