Optical reading system and method for spectral multiplexing of resonant waveguide gratings
First Claim
1. A reading system comprising:
- a light source for directing a light beam into a grating-based waveguide sensor; and
a detector for receiving a reflected light beam from the grating-based waveguide sensor that was tuned to have a resonance at a predetermined spectral location by adjusting a skew angle defined as an angle between a plane of incidence of the light beam directed into the grating-based waveguide sensor and a grating vector which is perpendicular to lines of a diffraction grating within the grating-based waveguide sensor, wherein said detector is used to analyze the reflected light beam so as to detect a resonant condition which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether a biological substance is located on a surface of the grating-based waveguide sensor.
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Abstract
An optical reading system is described herein which can be used to detect the presence of a biological substance (e.g., cell, drug, chemical compound) on a surface of a grating-based waveguide sensor. In one embodiment, the reading system includes a light source (e.g., laser, diode) for directing a light beam into the grating-based waveguide sensor and a detector (e.g., spectrometer, CCD imaging device) for receiving a reflected light beam from the grating-based waveguide sensor and analyzing the reflected light beam so as to detect a resonant wavelength/angle which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether a biological substance is located on the surface of the grating-based waveguide sensor. The grating-based waveguide sensor is tuned to have a resonant wavelength/angle at a predetermined spectral location by adjusting a skew angle defined as an angle between a plane of incidence of the light beam directed into the grating-based waveguide sensor and a grating vector which is perpendicular to the lines of a diffraction grating within the grating-based waveguide sensor. In another embodiment, the reading system is capable of performing a multiplexed interrogation of an array of grating-based waveguide sensors.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A reading system comprising:
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a light source for directing a light beam into a grating-based waveguide sensor; and
a detector for receiving a reflected light beam from the grating-based waveguide sensor that was tuned to have a resonance at a predetermined spectral location by adjusting a skew angle defined as an angle between a plane of incidence of the light beam directed into the grating-based waveguide sensor and a grating vector which is perpendicular to lines of a diffraction grating within the grating-based waveguide sensor, wherein said detector is used to analyze the reflected light beam so as to detect a resonant condition which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether a biological substance is located on a surface of the grating-based waveguide sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A reading system capable of performing a multiplexed interrogation of an array of grating-based waveguide sensors, said reading system comprising:
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a light source;
at least one collimator lens, each collimator lens capable of directing a light beam emitted from said light source into one of the grating-based waveguide sensors and further capable of receiving a reflected light beam from the one grating-based waveguide sensor, wherein each of the grating-based waveguide sensors was tuned to have a resonance at a desired spectral location by adjusting a skew angle (δ
) defined by the equation;
where θ
is an angle of incidence of the respective light beam, neff is the index of refraction of the grating-based waveguide sensors, λ
is the wavelength of the respective light beam, Λ
is the grating period;a dispersive device capable of receiving a plurality of the reflected light beams from said collimating lenses and further capable of detecting a resonant wavelength/angle in the respective reflected light beams which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether a biological substance is located on a surface of the respective grating-based waveguide sensor. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for interrogating one or more grating-based waveguide sensors, said method comprising the steps of:
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directing a light beam into each grating-based waveguide sensor;
receiving a reflected light beam from each grating-based waveguide sensor; and
analyzing each received reflected light beam to detect a resonant condition which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether a biological substance is located on a surface of the respective grating-based waveguide sensor, wherein each grating-based waveguide sensor was tuned to have a resonance at a predetermined spectral position by adjusting a skew angle defined as an angle between a plane of incidence of the light beam directed into that grating-based waveguide sensor and a grating vector which is perpendicular to lines of a diffraction grating within that grating-based waveguide sensor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A microplate comprising:
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a frame including a plurality of wells formed therein, each well incorporating a grating-based waveguide sensor that was tuned to have a resonance at a desired spectral location by adjusting a skew angle (δ
) defined by the equation;
where θ
is an angle of incidence of a light beam directed into the grating-based waveguide sensor, neff is the index of refraction of the grating-based waveguide sensor, λ
is the wavelength of the light beam, Λ
is the grating period.- View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
directing a light beam into each grating-based waveguide sensor, receiving a reflected light beam from each grating-based waveguide sensor; and
analyzing each received reflected light beam to detect a resonant condition which corresponds to a predetermined refractive index that indicates whether the presence of the biological substance is on a surface of the respective grating-based waveguide sensor.
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24. The microplate of claim 23, wherein said biological substance is a cell, molecule, protein, drug, chemical compound, nucleic acid, peptide or carbohydrate.
Specification