Confocal imaging methods and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of detecting features of a microarray, comprising(a) directing a radiation line to a microarray to simultaneously excite a plurality of fluorescent features in a rectangular area of the microarray, thereby producing simultaneous emission radiation from the plurality of fluorescent features;
- (b) detecting the simultaneous emission radiation with a rectangular detector array, wherein the rectangular detector array comprises a plurality of pixel elements in a horizontal axis and a plurality of pixel elements in a vertical axis, wherein the rectangular detector array is configured to sum at least one of the following;
(1) adjacent pixels in the plurality of pixel elements in the horizontal axis, and(2) adjacent pixels in the plurality of pixels elements in the vertical axis;
(c) scanning the radiation line across the microarray in a scan-axis dimension, wherein the vertical axis for the rectangular detector array is in the scan-axis dimension, thereby repeating (a) and (b).
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Abstract
The invention provides imaging apparatus and methods useful for obtaining a high resolution image of a sample at rapid scan rates. A rectangular detector array having a horizontal dimension that is longer than the vertical dimension can be used along with imaging optics positioned to direct a rectangular image of a portion of a sample to the rectangular detector array. A scanning device can be configured to scan the sample in a scan-axis dimension, wherein the vertical dimension for the rectangular detector array and the shorter of the two rectangular dimensions for the image are in the scan-axis dimension, and wherein the vertical dimension for the rectangular detector array is short enough to achieve confocality in a single axis.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of detecting features of a microarray, comprising
(a) directing a radiation line to a microarray to simultaneously excite a plurality of fluorescent features in a rectangular area of the microarray, thereby producing simultaneous emission radiation from the plurality of fluorescent features; -
(b) detecting the simultaneous emission radiation with a rectangular detector array, wherein the rectangular detector array comprises a plurality of pixel elements in a horizontal axis and a plurality of pixel elements in a vertical axis, wherein the rectangular detector array is configured to sum at least one of the following; (1) adjacent pixels in the plurality of pixel elements in the horizontal axis, and (2) adjacent pixels in the plurality of pixels elements in the vertical axis; (c) scanning the radiation line across the microarray in a scan-axis dimension, wherein the vertical axis for the rectangular detector array is in the scan-axis dimension, thereby repeating (a) and (b). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification