Method and apparatus for aligning microbeads in order to interrogate the same
First Claim
1. A method for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading or other detection device, comprising the step of:
- providing microbeads to a positioning device, each having an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof;
aligning the microbeads with the positioning device so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading or other detection device.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for aligning optical elements or microbeads, wherein each microbead has an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof to be read by a code reading device. The microbeads are aligned with a positioning device so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is positioned in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading device. The microbeads are typically cylindrically shaped glass beads between 25 and 250 microns (μm) in diameter and between 100 and 500 μm long, and have a holographic code embedded in the central region of the bead, which is used to identify it from the rest of the beads in a batch of beads with many different chemical probes. A cross reference is used to determine which probe is attached to which bead, thus allowing the researcher to correlate the chemical content on each bead with the measured fluorescence signal. Because the code consists of a diffraction grating typically disposed along an axis, there is a particular alignment required between the incident readout laser beam and the readout detector in two of the three rotational axes. The third axis, rotation about the center axis of the cylinder, is azimuthally symmetric and therefore does not require alignment.
176 Citations
57 Claims
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1. A method for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading or other detection device, comprising the step of:
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providing microbeads to a positioning device, each having an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof;
aligning the microbeads with the positioning device so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading or other detection device. - 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, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. Apparatus for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading device, comprising:
a positioning device for aligning microbeads, each microbead having an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof, so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is positioned in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading device. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. Apparatus for aligning an optical identification element, comprising:
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the optical identification element having an optical substrate having at least a portion thereof with at least one diffraction grating disposed therein, the grating having at least one refractive index pitch superimposed at a common location, the grating providing an output optical signal when illuminated by an incident light signal, the optical output signal being indicative of a code, and the optical identification element being an elongated object with a longitudinal axis; and
an alignment device which aligns the optical identification element such that said output optical signal is indicative of the code. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57)
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Specification