Csem Centre Suisse D'electronique Et De Microtechnique Sa

Mesa Imaging Ag

Guy Voirin

Michael Lehmann

Rino Ernst Kunz

Ross Stanley

Simon Neukom

Philipp N Zeller

Kaspar Cottier

Stéphanie Pasche

Bastien Schyrr

The present invention discloses an optical device able to luminesce, whereby the optical device comprises, inter alia, a luminescent source that is directly or indirectly mechanically coupled to a low-order mode waveguide, such that light emitting from the luminescent source is optically coupled into the low-order mode waveguide. In embodiments of the invention, the distance D between point sources of the luminescent source and the waveguide is about equal to or smaller than the decay length of the exponential tails of the modes supported by the waveguide, thereby obtaining an optical coupling efficiency of at least 3%. Additional and alternative embodiments are claimed and disclosed.

Optical device and system and method for fabricating the device

The integrated-optical chemical and/or biochemical sensor comprises a resonant waveguide structure ( ). A chemical and/or biochemical substance ( ) to be sensed can be deposited on a surface of the waveguide structure ( ). Incident light ( ) is coupled into the waveguide structure ( ) by a grating structure (G), making use of a first set of degrees of freedom. The incoupled light ( ) interacts with the substance ( ), which emits fluorescent light ( ). Fluorescent light ( ) is coupled out by the same grating structure (G), making use of a second set of degrees of freedom which differs from the first set of degrees of freedom in at least one degree of freedom. For example, the incident light ( ) is coupled in using a first diffraction order m &equals;1, and the emitted ( ) light is coupled out using a second, different diffraction order m &equals;2. By this measure, the emitted outcoupled light ( ) is clearly separated from exciting light ( ) which is reflected and/or coupled out using the first diffraction order m &equals;1. Such a clear separation increases the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensor signal.

Integrated-optical chemical and biochemical sensor

A biosensor comprises a waveguide into which light is coupled by a diffraction grating. The sample to be analyzed is placed on a reaction region in which a component of the immunological reaction is provided, for example antibodies or antigens. Fluorescence is excited on the surface of the waveguide because of the presence of a marker for example, a labelled antigen or antibody. Fluorescence is decoupled from the waveguide by the coupling diffraction grating or another diffraction grating. The waveguide is made of a material emitting light when it is excited by the marker excitation beam. This latter emission has a peak wavelength different from that of the emission radiation due to the marker used in the immunological reaction. Waveguide material fluorescence emission provides a reference during measurement.

Optical sensor using an immunological reaction and a fluorescent marker

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Courgevaux, Switzerland

Guy Voirin