Device and method for radiometric measurement of plurality of samples

Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus for radiometrically investigating a plurality of samples, with: a radiation device providing a plurality of radiation elements, a radiation element comprising at least one emitter element, wherein the radiation device preferably provides at least two emitter elements which provide radiation with different radiation spectra, wherein at least two of said emitter elements are adapted to emit radiation during time periods which at least partially overlap, and a control device, controlling said radiation elements, a sample holder member providing a plurality of sample positions for supporting a plurality of samples, wherein preferably at least a part of the radiation device and the sample holder member are adapted to be moved against each other during the investigation procedure and wherein at least one radiation element is adapted to irradiate a sample with radiation via a first optical path which causes the sample to emit sample radiation with at least one sample radiation frequency via a second optical path towards at least one detection device, said at least one detection device being adapted to detect the sample radiation of at least two samples as a sum signal during time periods which at least partially overlap; and an evaluation device which is adapted to evaluate the sample radiation of at least one individual sample from said sum signal. The invention relates further to a method for photometrically investigating sample radiations of at least one sample, which are caused by the radiation of N emitter elements of at least one radiation element wherein said N emitter elements are emitting radiation during time periods which at least partially overlap, to detect the sample radiation of at least two samples as a sum signal during time periods which at least partially overlap and to evaluate the sample radiation of at least one individual sample from said sum signal.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for radiometrically detecting a plurality of samples by irradiation, wherein the samples respond to the radiation by the emission of sample radiation monitored by a detector. Background technique [0002] Operating such a device allows the intensity of the sample radiation to be obtained in relation to a particular sample. By repeatedly detecting the sample radiation of the sample at defined instants, it is possible, for example, to analyze the emission of the sample radiation as a function of time. For quantitative and preferably real-time analysis of the course of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), devices of this type are used, for example, for photometric testing of multiple samples, for example in-line testing on thermocyclers. Another application of such a device may be the detection of multiple microarray spots on a substrate, or wherever it is necessary to detect them by means of lumines...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0005] Also, especially with sequential measurement methods, acquiring multiple measurement points leads to a longer overall measurement time as long as the time for individual measurements is not reduced

On the other hand, a reduction in the time of a single measurement leads to a reduction in the S / N of the detected fluorescence intensity signal

In addition, measuring devices that measure many samples in parallel (e.g. 96 samples at a time) do not mandate a short total measurement time

The efficiency of such massively parallel measurements is limited due to errors involving the limited bandwidth of the signals used and the limited computing power of the transform operations associated with the estimation of the measured signal

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