Biosensor Collimators Eliminate Optical Cross-Talk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current biosensors, particularly microarrays, face challenges with low spatial resolution and optical cross-talk, which hinder the accurate detection of analytes due to bulky, fragile, and expensive image sensors and optical systems that struggle to distinguish between locations on the microarray.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus incorporates a plurality of collimators with meta-materials or photonic crystals to prevent light deviation greater than a threshold, eliminating optical cross-talk and enhancing signal detection by using a dichroic filter and microlens to focus luminescence signals effectively onto pixels, while a control circuit processes data from these pixels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional image sensors and optical systems are used for detection, then the biosensor can detect analytes, but the spatial resolution is low and optical cross-talk occurs between neighboring pixels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the optical detection space into discrete segments by placing collimators at each pixel location. Each collimator creates an independent field of view that is optically isolated from neighboring pixels, effectively segmenting the optical paths to eliminate cross-talk while maintaining high spatial resolution across the microarray detector.
Solution Approach 2:
The collimators serve as intermediary optical elements between the microarray sample plane and the image sensor. These collimators mediate the light paths by restricting angular acceptance, ensuring that light from specific locations on the microarray is directed only to corresponding pixels, thereby preventing optical cross-talk while preserving measurement precision.
2Reliability
If conventional optical systems are used, then light detection is possible, but bulky and fragile components reduce device reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the key parameter of the optical system from conventional lens-based focusing to collimator-based angular filtering. This parameter change allows the use of simpler, more robust collimator structures instead of bulky and fragile conventional optical components, thereby improving device reliability while maintaining detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential function of light direction and filtering from complex conventional optical systems and implements it through simplified collimator structures. By taking out the core optical filtering function and implementing it through geometrically simple collimators, the system achieves high reliability with reduced structural complexity.
3Device complexity
If conventional detectors are used without collimators, then the system is simpler, but optical cross-talk between neighboring locations cannot be eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces collimators that segment the optical field into discrete, non-overlapping zones corresponding to each pixel. This segmentation eliminates optical cross-talk between neighboring detection locations while maintaining relatively simple detector structures, achieving high measurement precision without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite optical structures combining collimators with detectors and filters. This composite approach integrates multiple functions (angular filtering, light detection, and wavelength filtering) into a unified system that achieves high signal detection accuracy while managing overall device complexity through functional integration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration improves the spatial resolution and reduces optical cross-talk, allowing for more precise and efficient detection of analytes, enhancing the ability to distinguish between locations on the microarray and improving the overall performance of biosensors.
Implementation Method 1
the collimators are configured to essentially prevent light from passing if a deviation of a propagation direction of the light from an optical axis of the collimators is greater than a threshold
Implementation Method 2
the filter is a dichroic filter
Implementation Method 3
using a dichroic filter and microlens to focus luminescence signals effectively onto pixels
Implementation Method 4
the signal is luminescence
Implementation Method 5
the signal is generated under excitation of an excitation radiation
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is an apparatus comprising: a plurality of locations configured to have probes attached thereto, wherein interaction between the probes and an analyte generates a signal; an optical system comprising a plurality of collimators; a sensor comprising a plurality of pixels configured to detect the signal; wherein the collimators are configured to essentially prevent light from passing if a deviation of a propagation direction of the light from an optical axis of the collimators is greater than a threshold.