Method and apparatus for aligning microbeads in order to interrogate the same
First Claim
1. A method for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading or other detection device, comprising:
- providing microbeads to a positioning device, each microbead having an elongated body with a holographic code disposed thereon or therein, the code being oriented to extend along a longitudinal axis of the corresponding microbead and being defined at least in part by variation of a refractive index of the microbead, the refractive index varying in an axial direction along the longitudinal axis of the microbead; and
aligning the microbeads with the positioning device so the codes, the variation in the refractive index of the codes, and the longitudinal axis of the microbeads are in a common fixed orientation relative to the code reading or other detection device.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for aligning optical elements or microbeads, wherein each microbead has an elongated body with a code embedded therein along a longitudinal axis thereof to be read by a code reading device. The microbeads are aligned with a positioning device so the longitudinal axis of the microbeads is positioned in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading device. The microbeads are typically cylindrically shaped glass beads between 25 and 250 microns (μm) in diameter and between 100 and 500 μm long, and have a holographic code embedded in the central region of the bead, which is used to identify it from the rest of the beads in a batch of beads with many different chemical probes. A cross reference is used to determine which probe is attached to which bead, thus allowing the researcher to correlate the chemical content on each bead with the measured fluorescence signal. Because the code consists of a diffraction grating typically disposed along an axis, there is a particular alignment required between the incident readout laser beam and the readout detector in two of the three rotational axes. The third axis, rotation about the center axis of the cylinder, is azimuthally symmetric and therefore does not require alignment.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading or other detection device, comprising:
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providing microbeads to a positioning device, each microbead having an elongated body with a holographic code disposed thereon or therein, the code being oriented to extend along a longitudinal axis of the corresponding microbead and being defined at least in part by variation of a refractive index of the microbead, the refractive index varying in an axial direction along the longitudinal axis of the microbead; and aligning the microbeads with the positioning device so the codes, the variation in the refractive index of the codes, and the longitudinal axis of the microbeads are in a common fixed orientation relative to the code reading or other detection device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A method for aligning microbeads to be read by a code reading or other detection device, comprising:
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providing microbeads to a positioning device, wherein the positioning device comprises a groove plate with a side having a multiplicity of grooves therein to receive the microbeads, each microbead having an elongated body with a code disposed thereon or therein, the code being oriented to extend along a longitudinal axis of the corresponding microbead and being defined at least in part by variation of a refractive index of the microbead, the refractive index varying in an axial direction along the longitudinal axis of the microbead; causing the microbeads to flow freely across the side of the groove plate; and aligning the microbeads with the positioning device by moving the groove plate to cause at least a portion of the microbeads to align within the grooves so the codes, the variation in the refractive index of the codes, and the longitudinal axis of the microbeads are in a fixed orientation relative to the code reading or other detection device. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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Specification