BIOANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTATION USING A LIGHT SOURCE SUBSYSTEM
First Claim
1. An illumination system comprising:
- a light pipe in the form of a length of tube, rod, or fiber having a first end and a second end,an excitation source which provides excitation light wherein the excitation source is optically coupled to the light pipe to provide excitation light along the length of the tube, rod, or fiber, anda luminescent material in the light pipe which absorbs the excitation light and, in response generates and emits luminescence by spontaneous emission through the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber;
a mirror coupled to the second end of the tube, rod, or fiber to reflect luminescence toward the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber, andcoupling optics including an optical fiber adapted to direct the luminescence emitted by the luminescent material to a bioanalytical tool.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a light source for irradiating molecules present in a detection volume with one or more selected wavelengths of light and directing the fluorescence, absorbance, transmittance, scattering onto one or more detectors. Molecular interactions with the light allow for the identification and quantitation of participating chemical moieties in reactions utilizing physical or chemical tags, most typically fluorescent and chromophore labels. The invention can also use the light source to separately and simultaneously irradiate a plurality of capillaries or other flow confining structures with one or more selected wavelengths of light and separately and simultaneously detect fluorescence produced within the capillaries or other flow confining structures. In various embodiments, the flow confining structures can allow separation or transportation of molecules and include capillary, micro bore and milli bore flow systems. The capillaries are used to separate molecules that are chemically tagged with appropriate fluorescent or chromophore groups.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. An illumination system comprising:
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a light pipe in the form of a length of tube, rod, or fiber having a first end and a second end, an excitation source which provides excitation light wherein the excitation source is optically coupled to the light pipe to provide excitation light along the length of the tube, rod, or fiber, and a luminescent material in the light pipe which absorbs the excitation light and, in response generates and emits luminescence by spontaneous emission through the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber; a mirror coupled to the second end of the tube, rod, or fiber to reflect luminescence toward the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber, and coupling optics including an optical fiber adapted to direct the luminescence emitted by the luminescent material to a bioanalytical tool. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An illumination system comprising:
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a light pipe in the form of a length of tube, rod, or fiber having a first end and a second end, an array of LEDs which provides excitation light wherein the array of LEDs is optically coupled to the light pipe to provide excitation light along the length of the tube, rod, or fiber, and a luminescent material in the light pipe which absorbs the excitation light and, in response generates and emits luminescence through the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber; a mirror coupled to the second end of the tube, rod, or fiber to reflect luminescence toward the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber, and coupling optics adapted to direct the luminescence emitted by the luminescent material to a bioanalytical tool. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A bioanalytical system comprising:
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a bioanalytical tool selected from the group consisting of;
microarray scanners;
microtiter plate readers;
DNA sequencers;
PCR instruments;
Q-PCR instruments;
microscopes;
flow cytometry instruments;
lab-on-a-chip devices;
diagnostic medical devices; and
therapeutic medical devices;a light pipe in the form of a length of tube, rod, or fiber having a first end and a second end, an array of LEDs which provides excitation light wherein the array of LEDs is optically coupled to the light pipe to provide excitation light along the length of the tube, rod, or fiber, and a luminescent material in the light pipe which absorbs the excitation light and, in response generates and emits luminescence through the first end of the tube, rod, or fiber; and coupling optics adapted to direct the luminescence emitted by the luminescent material to the bioanalytical tool. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification