Aqueous carrier waveguide in a flow cytometer
First Claim
1. A flow cytometer comprising:
- an orifice;
an aqueous carrier which flows through said orifice, wherein said aqueous carrier forms an optical waveguide;
means for inserting sample cells within said aqueous carrier;
means for directing light through said aqueous carrier, wherein said light strikes said sample cells and thereby produces light scatter which propagates within said optical waveguide; and
means for collecting said light scatter as it propagates within said optical waveguide.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The liquid of a flow cytometer itself acts as an optical waveguide, thus transmitting the light to an optical filter/detector combination. This alternative apparatus and method for detecting scattered light in a flow cytometer is provided by a device which views and detects the light trapped within the optical waveguide formed by the flow stream. A fiber optic or other light collecting device is positioned within the flow stream. This provides enormous advantages over the standard light collection technique which uses a microscope objective. The signal-to-noise ratio is greatly increased over that for right-angle-scattered light collected by a microscope objective, and the alignment requirements are simplified.
116 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A flow cytometer comprising:
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an orifice; an aqueous carrier which flows through said orifice, wherein said aqueous carrier forms an optical waveguide; means for inserting sample cells within said aqueous carrier; means for directing light through said aqueous carrier, wherein said light strikes said sample cells and thereby produces light scatter which propagates within said optical waveguide; and means for collecting said light scatter as it propagates within said optical waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for measuring light scatter in a flow cytometer, comprising:
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flowing an aqueous carrier through an orifice to form an optical waveguide; inserting sample cells within said aqueous carrier; directing a laser through said aqueous carrier, wherein said laser strikes said sample cells and thereby produces light scatter which propagates within said optical waveguide; collecting said light scatter propagating within said optical waveguide; and detecting said light scatter collected from within said optical waveguide.
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Specification