Deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA) optical storage using non-radiative energy transfer between a donor group, an acceptor group and a quencher group
First Claim
1. An optical memory comprising:
- a plurality of read portals disposed on a substrate, andchromophoric memory units disposed within the read portals, each chromophoric memory unit adapted to receive photonic energy and to re-emit energy based upon the action or non-action of a quencher.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An optical memory system includes memory cells which utilize synthetic DNA as a component of the information storage mechanism. In the preferred embodiment, memory cells contain one or more chromophoric memory units attached to a support substrate. Each chromophoric memory unit comprises a donor, an acceptor and, at some time during its existence, an active quencher associated with the donor and/or the acceptor. The donor and the acceptor permit non-radiative energy transfer, preferably by Forster energy transfer. To write to the memory cell, the quencher is rendered inactive, preferably by illumination with ultraviolet light. To read, the chromophoric memory units in a read portal are illuminated, and the read illumination is detected. In the preferred embodiment, multiple chromophoric memory units having resolvable read properties are contained within a single read portal. In this way, a multibit word of data may be read from a single diffraction limited read portal. In one aspect of this invention, the read portal is subdivided into multiple write sub-locations, where each sub-location contains chromophoric memory units with acceptors which emit at spectrally resolvable colors. In a further aspect, each sub-location provides variable output based on wavelength, intensity and/or polarization.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. An optical memory comprising:
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a plurality of read portals disposed on a substrate, and chromophoric memory units disposed within the read portals, each chromophoric memory unit adapted to receive photonic energy and to re-emit energy based upon the action or non-action of a quencher. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An optical memory comprising:
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a support substrate, an attachment mechanism attached to the substrate, and a chromophoric memory unit coupled to the attachment mechanisms, the chromophoric memory unit comprising, a DNA template, and functionalized DNA including a donor group, an acceptor group and a quencher group. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A DNA optical memory cell comprising:
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a support mechanism, an attachment mechanism coupled to the support mechanism, and DNA structure adapted to receive photonic energy and to reemit energy based upon the effective presence of a quencher, the attachment mechanism serving to attach the support mechanism to the DNA structure. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. An optical memory player for reading from a memory array, the memory array including multiple read portals which contain chromophoric memory units adapted to provide a multibit output, comprising:
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an illumination source operatively positioned to illuminate a read portal on the memory array, a motion device adapted to receive the memory array containing the read portals and to cause relative motion of the read portals and the illumination source, and a detector for resolving the multibit output from the read portal. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for storing data comprising the steps of:
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forming a chromophoric memory unit by hybridizing a DNA template with at least one donor group, one acceptor group and a quencher group, writing to the chromophoric memory unit to place said chromophoric memory unit in one of two states, a first state being the effective quenched state and a second state being an inactivated quench state, and reading from the chromophoric memory unit by illuminating the chromophoric memory unit with optical radiation and detecting the presence or absence of reemitted radiation. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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Specification