Containing analyte in optical cavity structures
First Claim
1. A device comprising:
- a photosensing component with one or more photosensitive surfaces; and
an optical cavity structure including;
an inhomogeneous transmissive optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces; and
an analyte region that can contain analyte within the light-transmissive region, presence of the analyte in the analyte region affecting the optical cavity'"'"'s output light;
the photosensing component being positioned to receive the output light and, in response, the photosensing component providing sensing results that include information about the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics, and wherein the photosensing component is further positioned so that received analyte-affected output light has laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution on the photosensitive surfaces;
the photosensing component providing the sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution.
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Abstract
A device can include both a photosensing component and an optical cavity structure, with the optical cavity structure including a part that can operate as an optical cavity in response to input light, providing laterally varying output light. For example, the optical cavity can be a graded linearly varying filter (LVF) or other inhomogeneous optical cavity, and the photosensing component can have a photosensitive surface that receives its output light without it passing through another optical component, thus avoiding loss of information. The optical cavity part can include a region that can contain analyte. Presence of the analyte affects the optical cavity part'"'"'s output light, and the photosensing component can respond to the output light, providing sensing results indicating the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics.
173 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A device comprising:
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a photosensing component with one or more photosensitive surfaces; and an optical cavity structure including; an inhomogeneous transmissive optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces; and an analyte region that can contain analyte within the light-transmissive region, presence of the analyte in the analyte region affecting the optical cavity'"'"'s output light;
the photosensing component being positioned to receive the output light and, in response, the photosensing component providing sensing results that include information about the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics, and wherein the photosensing component is further positioned so that received analyte-affected output light has laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution on the photosensitive surfaces;
the photosensing component providing the sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution.
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2. A system comprising:
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an optical cavity device that includes; a photosensing component with one or more photosensitive surfaces; and connected to the photosensing component, an optical cavity structure that includes; an inhomogeneous optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces; and an analyte region that can contain analyte within the light-transmissive region, presence of the analyte in the analyte region affecting the optical cavity'"'"'s output light;
in response to analyte-affected output light from the optical cavity, the photosensing component providing sensing results that include information about the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics; andmonitor circuitry connected to receive the sensing results from the photosensing component, the monitor circuitry using the sensing results to monitor the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics, and wherein the photosensing component is further positioned so that received analyte-affected output light has laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution on the photosensitive surfaces;
the photosensing component providing the sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution. - View Dependent Claims (3)
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4. A method comprising:
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illuminating an optical cavity structure that includes a transmissive inhomogeneous optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces, the light-transmissive region including an analyte region in which analyte can be present;
in response to illumination with analyte in the analyte region, the optical cavity providing output light with a laterally varying wavelength dependent output energy distribution that includes information about an optical characteristic of the analyte; andusing a photosensing component connected to the optical cavity structure to photosense the output light, the photosensing component providing sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent output energy distribution that conveys information about the-optical characteristic of the analyte. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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illuminating an optical cavity structure that includes an optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces, the light-transmissive region including an analyte region in which analyte can be present; in response to illumination with analyte in the analyte region, the optical cavity providing output light with a laterally varying wavelength dependent output energy distribution that includes information about an optical characteristic of the analyte; and using a photosensing component connected to the optical cavity structure to photo sense the output light, the photosensing component providing sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent output energy distribution that conveys information about the optical characteristic of the analyte; the act of illuminating the optical cavity structure comprising at least one of; illuminating uniformly across a surface of the optical cavity structure;
the optical cavity being inhomogeneous;illuminating the optical cavity structure with broadband illumination;
the optical cavity being inhomogeneous;illuminating the optical cavity structure in a set of narrow photon energy bands;
the optical cavity being inhomogeneous;illuminating the optical cavity structure in a sequence of illuminations, each illumination being in a respective narrow photon energy band, at least two of the photon energy bands being different from each other;
the optical cavity being inhomogeneous;illuminating a set of regions of the optical cavity structure, each region being illuminated in a respective narrow photon energy band;
the optical cavity being inhomogeneous; andilluminating a surface of the optical cavity structure across a range of angles of incidence;
the optical cavity being homogeneous. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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11. A device comprising:
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a photosensing component with one or more photosensitive surfaces and a set of positions in the photosensitive surfaces; and an optical cavity structure including; first and second inward reflection surfaces and, between them, a light transmissive region, the light-transmissive region having laterally varying optical thickness; and an analyte region capable of containing analyte within the light-transmissive region; the optical cavity structure being structured so that; due to the laterally varying optical thickness, the light-transmissive region and the first and second inward reflection surfaces are operable as an inhomogeneous optical cavity with analyte not present in the analyte region and also with analyte present in the analyte region;
the optical cavity providing output light through an exit surface in a set of one or more transmission modes;with an analyte not present in the analyte region, the optical cavity providing output light in which each of the set of modes has a respective first intensity-position function; and with the analyte present in the analyte region, the optical cavity providing output light in which each of the set of modes has a respective second intensity position function;
at least one mode'"'"'s first and second intensity-position functions being different, the difference indicating information about an optical characteristic of the analyte, the optical characteristic including at least one of refractive index, absorption coefficient, and absorption spectrum;the light-transmissive region'"'"'s optical thickness having one of; lateral variation sufficiently small that the set of modes includes only a single mode; and lateral variation sufficiently small that intensity-position functions of adjacent modes do not interfere with each other; the photosensing component being positioned to receive the output light from the exit surface and so that, as a result of the light-transmissive region'"'"'s laterally varying optical thickness, output light incident on the set of positions has laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution;
in response to the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution, the photosensing component providing sensing results indicating the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution, wherein the laterally varying wavelength dependent photon energy distribution conveys the information about the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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19. A method comprising:
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illuminating an optical cavity structure that includes a homogeneous transmissive optical cavity with a light-transmissive region between first and second inward reflection surfaces, the light-transmissive region including an analyte region in which analyte can be present;
in response to illumination with analyte in the analyte region, the illumination being incident on a surface of the optical cavity structure across a range of angles of incidence, the optical cavity providing output light with a laterally varying output energy distribution that includes information about an optical characteristic of the analyte; andusing a photosensing component connected to the optical cavity structure to photosense the output light, the photosensing component providing sensing results indicating the optical characteristic of the analyte.
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20. A device comprising:
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a photosensing component with one or more photosensitive surfaces; and an optical cavity structure that can receive input light from external light sources; the photosensing component and the optical cavity structure being connected; the optical cavity structure including; an optical cavity with an analyte region that can contain analyte;
with analyte present in the analyte region, the optical cavity having, in response to input light from one or more external light sources, an analyte-affected laterally varying energy output function; anda light interface surface at which the optical cavity can provide output light to the photosensitive surfaces in response to the input light;
with the analyte present in the analyte region, the optical cavity providing analyte-affected output light at the light interface surface in response to the input light;
as a result of the analyte-affected energy output function, the analyte-affected output light providing an analyte-affected, laterally varying intensity distribution on the photosensitive surfaces;in response to the analyte-affected output light, the photosensing component providing sensing results that include information about the analyte'"'"'s optical characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification