Optoelectronic Chip With Integrated Scattering Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional interferometric scattering microscopy (iSCAT) systems rely on high numerical aperture lenses and immersion media, which are expensive, temperature-sensitive, and limit the effective field of view, making it difficult to detect small particles like proteins and examine dynamic temperature behavior.
Innovation Solution
An optoelectronic chip with a thin-film lightguide and a scattering structure that generates a reference light field, allowing for separate excitation and detection paths, enabling large field observation without immersion media and maintaining temperature stability over an extended range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If high numerical aperture lenses with immersion medium are used, then detection sensitivity for small particles is improved, but temperature sensitivity increases and field of view is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the reference light generation function from the external immersion medium setup and integrates it directly into the waveguide chip structure. The scattering structure within the waveguide actively generates the reference light field, eliminating the need for external immersion medium and its associated temperature sensitivity issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the excitation light path and reference light generation into a single integrated waveguide system. The same waveguide that guides the excitation light also contains the scattering structure that generates the reference light, combining multiple functions into one compact component.
2Measurement precision
If high numerical aperture lenses with immersion medium are used, then detection sensitivity for small particles is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the complex immersion medium coupling system and replaces it with an integrated on-chip scattering structure. This extraction of the reference light generation function from the external optical system reduces overall device complexity while maintaining detection sensitivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The waveguide structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it guides the excitation light, generates the reference light through the scattering structure, and provides the optical path for detection. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components, reducing system complexity.
3Measurement precision
If high numerical aperture lenses with immersion medium are used, then detection sensitivity for small particles is improved, but field of view is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a traditional optical microscopy approach that is limited by lens aperture to a waveguide-based approach where the reference light is generated in the same dimensional space as the sample. This allows for extended field of view while maintaining sensitivity through the evanescent field interaction.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If separate excitation and detection paths are implemented, then background signal suppression is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the excitation and reference light paths within the same waveguide structure, using the scattering structure to generate the reference light from the guided mode. This merging approach suppresses background signals through interference while avoiding the complexity of completely separate optical paths.
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 approach allows for robust, user-friendly detection of small biomolecules with high sensitivity and spatial resolution, suppressing background signals and reducing unwanted effects like sample heating, while enabling dynamic temperature studies and parallel examination of multiple sample regions.
Implementation Method 1
a thin-film lightguide with an active region, in which the sample interacts with a guided mode of the thin-film lightguide
Implementation Method 2
at least one scattering structure is arranged in the active region, which scatters the light guided in the thin-film lightguide, whereby a reference light field is produced
Implementation Method 3
the light that is elastically true to particles is superimposed with a reference light field and projected onto a detector such as a camera, where it interferes
Implementation Method 4
Since the evanescent field of the waveguide mode only penetrates a highly selective region of about 100 nm of the sample volume
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an optoelectronic chip for receiving a sample for optical examination, having a carrier layer, a thin-film lightguide having an active region, in which the sample interacts with a guided mode of the thin-film lightguide, wherein at least one scattering structure is arranged in the active region, which scatters a part of the light guided in the thin-film lightguide, whereby a reference light field is produced. The invention further relates to an optical system having such a chip. The system is used for the marker-free analysis of particles, particularly biomolecules in their natural environment.