Optical Engine for Flow Cytometer with Tuned Beam Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flow cytometry designs face limitations in beam size and focusing point adjustment for lasers, light collection efficiency, and obscuration bar effectiveness, leading to suboptimal performance in distinguishing and measuring fluorescence signals and scatter data.
Innovation Solution
An optical engine with interchangeable components allows for individual tuning and focusing of lasers, improved beam shaping and filtration optics, and a diamond-shaped obscuration bar to enhance light collection and separation of signals, enabling precise measurement of multiple fluorescence channels and scatter data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a same set of beam shaping and steering optics is used for all lasers, then the system is simpler and easier to align, but the beam size and focusing point are compromised and cannot be independently adjusted for each laser
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the optical system into separate beam shaping and steering components for each laser wavelength. Each laser has its own dedicated optics rather than sharing a common set, allowing independent optimization of beam parameters for each wavelength without compromising alignment simplicity.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional beam shaping optics are used, then the system is easier to manufacture, but the beam size and focus location are suboptimum for different wavelengths
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different beam shaping optics specifically tailored to each laser wavelength. Each optical component is optimized for its specific wavelength rather than using a generic design that attempts to accommodate all wavelengths, achieving optimal beam quality for each laser while maintaining manufacturing feasibility.
3Device complexity
If a rectangular or cross-shaped obscuration bar is used, then the design is simpler, but it either blocks too much forward scatter light or lacks sufficient blocking of unscattered light
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs an asymmetric obscuration bar design with a triangular cross-section rather than conventional symmetric rectangular or cross-shaped bars. This asymmetric geometry is specifically configured to block unscattered laser light while permitting passage of low-angle forward scattered light, optimizing the balance between beam blocking and scatter detection.
4Measurement precision
If complex multiple-lens collection optics are used, then light collection efficiency is improved, but the design is expensive and difficult to align and adjust
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates unnecessary optical components from the light collection path. Instead of using complex multiple-lens systems, the invention employs a simplified collection optics design that achieves high light collection efficiency with fewer elements, reducing both manufacturing cost and alignment complexity while maintaining detection precision.
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
The solution enables high sensitivity and resolution in flow cytometry, allowing for accurate measurement of up to 13 fluorescence signals and improved detection of cell subpopulations, reducing the need for expensive reference beads and enhancing diagnostic capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
fluorescent molecules coupled to cells are passed through a flow cell and excited by a set of lasers. The fluorescence is collected and separated into different channels with specific detection wavelength
Implementation Method 2
beam shaping optics for each laser that vertically position the excitation laser beam at different positions along the flowing direction of the measured sample
Implementation Method 3
a set of filtration optics that filter fluorescence from the different vertical positions into a plurality of filter channels
Implementation Method 4
Forward scatter (FSC) is considered a low angle scatter and is roughly proportional to the diameter of the cell. Therefore FSC is useful in identifying certain cell subpopulations from others based on cell size. Since forward scatter is typically measured along a same path as beam propagation, an optical beam obscuration bar is conventionally added behind the flow cell but along the optical path of laser beam propagation to block the unscattered, high-intensity raw laser beam
Implementation Method 5
fluorescent light is collected from the particles (e.g. cells) flowing through the center of the flow cell
Data Source
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AI summary
An optical engine for use in a bench top flow cytometer, the optical engine comprising a set of lasers; a different set of beam shaping optics for each laser, wherein each set comprises two lenses to adjustably focus light horizontally along an x-axis to a same horizontal position and vertically along a y-axis to a different vertical position along a same plane; collection optics for collecting fluorescence from the flow cell; filtration optics that filter the collected fluorescence from the flow cell into different detection channels according to wavelength ranges; and a detector for each detection channel that converts the filtered fluorescence to electrical signals, wherein electrical signals are processed so that the fluorescence from each laser at the different vertical positions is distinguished at the same detector.