INTERFEROMETRIC DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. An interferometric detection system comprising:
- a. a substrate;
b. a channel formed in the substrate for reception of a fluid sample to be analyzed;
c. a coherent light source for generating a coherent light beam, the light source being positioned to direct the light beam onto the substrate such that the light beam is incident on the channel to thereby generate backscattered light through reflective and refractive interaction of the light beam with a substrate/channel interface and the sample, the backscattered light comprising interference fringe patterns including a plurality of spaced light bands whose positions shift in response to changes in the refractive index of the fluid sample;
d. a photodetector for receiving the backscattered light and generating one or more intensity signals that vary as a function of positional shifts of the light bands; and
e. at least one signal analyzer for receiving the intensity signals and generating at least one of a signal A and a signal B, and determining therefrom a characteristic property of the fluid sample in the channel,wherein the signal analyzer further comprises a processor programmed to determine a characteristic property of the fluid sample in the channel by performing a method comprising the steps of;
i. determining a value q as a function of the sum of one or more overlapping products of signal A and signal B;
ii. determining a value p as a function of the sum of one or more weighted overlapping products of signal A and signal B; and
iii. calculating the shift between signal A and signal B as a function of p divided by q.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are improved optical detection systems and methods comprising interferometric detection systems, methods for determining a characteristic property of a fluid, methods for calculating a shift between at least two signals, computer program products encoded in a computer readable medium, and computational systems. Also disclosed are label-free, free-solution, and/or real-time measurements of characteristic properties and/or chemical events using the disclosed techniques. Also disclosed are various biosensor applications of the disclosed techniques. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.
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Citations
54 Claims
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1. An interferometric detection system comprising:
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a. a substrate; b. a channel formed in the substrate for reception of a fluid sample to be analyzed; c. a coherent light source for generating a coherent light beam, the light source being positioned to direct the light beam onto the substrate such that the light beam is incident on the channel to thereby generate backscattered light through reflective and refractive interaction of the light beam with a substrate/channel interface and the sample, the backscattered light comprising interference fringe patterns including a plurality of spaced light bands whose positions shift in response to changes in the refractive index of the fluid sample; d. a photodetector for receiving the backscattered light and generating one or more intensity signals that vary as a function of positional shifts of the light bands; and e. at least one signal analyzer for receiving the intensity signals and generating at least one of a signal A and a signal B, and determining therefrom a characteristic property of the fluid sample in the channel, wherein the signal analyzer further comprises a processor programmed to determine a characteristic property of the fluid sample in the channel by performing a method comprising the steps of; i. determining a value q as a function of the sum of one or more overlapping products of signal A and signal B; ii. determining a value p as a function of the sum of one or more weighted overlapping products of signal A and signal B; and iii. calculating the shift between signal A and signal B as a function of p divided by q. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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5. The system of claim, wherein the weight for one or more overlapping products is taken from the set of values from 1 to a value c, wherein c is a function of n.
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26. A method for determining a characteristic property of a fluid comprising the steps of:
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a. providing a substrate having a channel formed therein for reception of a fluid sample to be analyzed; b. injecting a fluid sample to be analyzed into the channel; c. directing a coherent light beam onto the substrate such that the light beam is incident on the channel to generate backscattered light through reflective and refractive interaction of the light beam with a substrate/channel interface and the sample, the backscattered light comprising interference fringe patterns including a plurality of spaced light bands whose positions shift in response to changes in the refractive index of the fluid sample; d. detecting positional shifts in the light bands and generating at least a signal A and a signal B from the detected positional shifts; and e. determining the characteristic property of the sample from the positional shifts of the light bands in the interference patterns by performing a method comprising the steps of; i. determining a value q as a function of the sum of one or more overlapping products of signal A and signal B; ii. determining a value p as a function of the sum of one or more weighted overlapping products of signal A and signal B; and iii. calculating the shift between signal A and signal B as a function of p divided by q. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification