Method and system implementing spatially modulated excitation or emission for particle characterization with enhanced sensitivity
First Claim
1. A method of characterizing particles, the method comprising:
- creating relative movement between at least one particle and an excitation region;
generating a spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region, the spatially modulated excitation pattern including multiple high excitation areas interspersed with multiple low excitation areas, the spatially modulated excitation pattern extending along a length of the excitation region;
stimulating energy emission from the particle as the particle moves along the length of the excitation region;
detecting the energy emission from the particle using a detector;
generating a detector signal that is time modulated according to the spatially modulated excitation pattern;
analyzing the time modulated detector signal; and
characterizing the particle based on the analysis, wherein generating the spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region comprises generating the spatially modulated excitation pattern based on at least one of an electric field, a magnetic field, and an acoustic standing wave.
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Abstract
A method and system for using spatially modulated excitation/emission and relative movement between a particle (cell, molecule, aerosol, . . . ) and an excitation/emission pattern are provided. In at least one form, an interference pattern of the excitation light with submicron periodicity perpendicular to the particle flow is used. As the particle moves along the pattern, emission is modulated according to the speed of the particle and the periodicity of the stripe pattern. A single detector, which records the emission over a couple of stripes, can be used. The signal is recorded with a fast detector read-out in order to capture the “blinking” of the particles while they are moving through the excitation pattern. This concept enables light detection with high signal-to-noise ratio and high spatial resolution without the need of expensive and bulky optics.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of characterizing particles, the method comprising:
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creating relative movement between at least one particle and an excitation region; generating a spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region, the spatially modulated excitation pattern including multiple high excitation areas interspersed with multiple low excitation areas, the spatially modulated excitation pattern extending along a length of the excitation region; stimulating energy emission from the particle as the particle moves along the length of the excitation region; detecting the energy emission from the particle using a detector; generating a detector signal that is time modulated according to the spatially modulated excitation pattern; analyzing the time modulated detector signal; and characterizing the particle based on the analysis, wherein generating the spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region comprises generating the spatially modulated excitation pattern based on at least one of an electric field, a magnetic field, and an acoustic standing wave. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of characterizing particles, the method comprising:
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generating a spatially modulated excitation pattern within an excitation region based on at least one of an electric field, a magnetic field, and an acoustic standing wave; creating relative movement between at least one particle and the excitation region, the particle being excited upon exposure to the spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region, the spatially modulated excitation pattern comprising multiple high excitation regions interspersed with multiple low excitation regions, the spatially modulated excitation pattern stimulating time modulated energy emission from the particle; detecting the time modulated energy emission from the particle using a detector and generating a time modulated detector signal, the time modulated detector signal being time modulated based on the spatially modulated excitation pattern; and extracting particle information by detecting a presence of the particle by calculating an integral of the time modulated signal over a predetermined time period; and triggering a positioning algorithm after the integral reaches a predetermined threshold, the positioning algorithm including applying a fit function to the time modulated signal.
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12. A method comprising:
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creating relative movement between at least one particle and an excitation region; generating a spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region based on a non-optical field, the spatially modulated excitation pattern including multiple high excitation areas interspersed with multiple low excitation areas, the spatially modulated excitation pattern extending along a length of the excitation region; stimulating energy emission from the particle as the particle moves along the length of the excitation region; detecting the energy emission from the particle using a detector; and generating a detector signal that is time modulated according to the spatially modulated excitation pattern. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method comprising:
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creating relative movement between at least one particle and an excitation region; generating a spatially modulated excitation pattern within the excitation region based on a non-optical field, the spatially modulated excitation pattern including multiple high excitation areas interspersed with multiple low excitation areas, the spatially modulated excitation pattern extending along a length of the excitation region; and generating a detector signal that is time modulated according to the spatially modulated excitation pattern. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification