Active sensor and method for optical illumination and detection
First Claim
1. An active sensor system for detecting optical behavior of one or more samples, said system comprising:
- at least one substrate;
multiple illumination elements disposed on a first one of said at least one substrate, said illumination elements forming a multipixel illumination source, whereby portions of said samples are substantially uniquely illuminated by associated ones of said illumination elements;
multiple detector elements disposed on a second one of said at least one substrate and forming a multipixel detector interspersed with said illumination elements, whereby light returning in response to said illumination from said portions of said samples are substantially uniquely detected by associated detector elements;
an illumination control subsystem coupled to said multiple illumination elements for controlling said illumination of said portions of said samples; and
a processing subsystem coupled to said multiple detector elements for producing an output indicating a detected optical signal corresponding to said light returning from said portions of said samples.
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Abstract
An active sensor a method for optical illumination and detection provides low cost and high-speed optical scanning of bio-arrays, DNA samples/chips, semiconductors, micro-electromechanical systems and other samples requiring inspection or measurement. A plurality of illumination sources forming a parallel multi-pixel array is used to illuminate one or more samples via an imaging system or by placement in close proximity to the samples. The array may be a line array or a two-dimensional array. A plurality of detectors is integrated within the multi-pixel illumination array or provided in a separate array, each detector for detecting optical properties of the sample that results from illumination by one or more associated illumination sources. One detector may be associated with multiple illuminators or one illuminator may be associated with multiple detectors. Filters may be integrated within the illumination path and/or detection paths to provide wavelength and/or polarization discrimination capability and microlenses may also be incorporated within the illumination path and/or detection paths to provide focusing or imaging. The illumination sources may be provided by TFT-LCD devices, diode emitters, organic LEDs (OLEDs), vertical cavity emitting lasers (VCELs) or other light sources that may be integrated to form a high-density illumination matrix. The detectors may be PIN photo-diodes or other suitable detectors that are capable of integration within the illumination matrix.
27 Citations
35 Claims
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1. An active sensor system for detecting optical behavior of one or more samples, said system comprising:
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at least one substrate;
multiple illumination elements disposed on a first one of said at least one substrate, said illumination elements forming a multipixel illumination source, whereby portions of said samples are substantially uniquely illuminated by associated ones of said illumination elements;
multiple detector elements disposed on a second one of said at least one substrate and forming a multipixel detector interspersed with said illumination elements, whereby light returning in response to said illumination from said portions of said samples are substantially uniquely detected by associated detector elements;
an illumination control subsystem coupled to said multiple illumination elements for controlling said illumination of said portions of said samples; and
a processing subsystem coupled to said multiple detector elements for producing an output indicating a detected optical signal corresponding to said light returning from said portions of said samples. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An active sensor for detecting optical behavior of one or more samples, said active sensor comprising a unified structure comprising:
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a substrate forming a bottom layer of said active sensor;
multiple illumination elements disposed on said substrate, said illumination elements forming a multipixel illumination source, whereby portions of said samples are uniquely illuminated by associated ones of said illumination elements; and
multiple detector elements disposed on said substrate and forming a multipixel detector interspersed with said illumination elements, whereby light returned from said portions of said samples in response to said illumination are detected by associated detector elements further associated with said illumination elements associated with said portion. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. An active sensor for detecting optical behavior of one or more samples, said active sensor comprising a sandwich structure comprising:
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a first substrate forming a first outside layer of said active sensor;
multiple illumination elements disposed on an inner side of said first substrate, said illumination elements forming a multipixel illumination source, whereby portions of said samples are uniquely illuminated by associated ones of said illumination elements;
a second substrate forming a second outside layer of said active sensor on an opposite side of said sandwich structure from said first substrate; and
multiple detector elements disposed on said second substrate and forming a multipixel detector interspersed with said illumination elements, wherein said one or more samples are positioned between said multiple illumination elements and said multiple detector elements, whereby light leaving said portions of said samples in response to said illumination are detected by associated detector elements further associated with said illumination elements associated with said portion.
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24. A method for measuring optical behavior of portions of one or more samples, said method comprising:
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illuminating portions of said one or more samples with a multipixel illuminator having multiple illumination elements, wherein each of said illumination elements is associated with a unique one of said portions;
detecting light returning from said portions of said one or more samples in response to said illuminating, said detecting performed by a multipixel detector having multiple detection elements, wherein each of said detection elements is associated with a unique one of said portions; and
processing a result of said detecting to obtain a mapping of optical behavior of said one or more samples. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification