Illumination for fluorescence imaging using objective lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12044624-B2
Application number	US-202217663476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2022
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

A system includes: an objective lens; a first light source to feed first illuminating light through the objective lens and into a flowcell (e.g., with a relatively thin film waveguide) to be installed in the system, the first illuminating light to be fed using a first grating on the flowcell; and a first image sensor to capture imaging light using the objective lens, wherein the first grating is positioned outside a field of view of the first image sensor. Dual-surface imaging can be performed. Flowcells with multiple swaths bounded by gratings can be used. An auto-alignment process can be performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flowcell comprising:
a first substrate that includes a first sample surface, and a second substrate that includes a second sample surface, the first sample surface facing the second sample surface;
a first grating to couple first illuminating light into the first substrate to illuminate the first sample surface; and
a second grating to couple second illuminating light into the second substrate to illuminate the second sample surface.

2. The flowcell of claim 1 , wherein the first grating is positioned on a first planar waveguide, and wherein the second grating is positioned on a second planar waveguide.

3. The flowcell of claim 2 , the first grating to couple the first illuminating light into the first planar waveguide, and the second grating to couple the second illuminating light into the second planar waveguide.

4. The flowcell of claim 3 , wherein the first grating is offset, relative to the second grating, in a travel direction of the first illuminating light.

5. The flowcell of claim 3 , further comprising a third grating to couple the first illuminating light out of the first planar waveguide, and a fourth grating to couple the second illuminating light out of the second planar waveguide.

6. The flowcell of claim 5 , wherein the first grating is offset, relative to the second grating, in a travel direction of the first illuminating light.

7. The flowcell of claim 6 , wherein the third grating is offset, relative to the fourth grating, in a travel direction of the second illuminating light.

8. The flowcell of claim 7 , wherein the first grating is positioned after the second grating in the travel direction of the first illuminating light, and wherein the third grating is positioned after the fourth grating in the travel direction of the second illuminating light.

9. The flowcell of claim 6 , wherein the first and second gratings have different coupling angles.

10. The flowcell of claim 2 , the first illuminating light to propagate through the second planar waveguide before being coupled by the first grating.

11. The flowcell of claim 2 , the second illuminating light not propagating through the first planar waveguide before being coupled by the second grating.

12. The flowcell of claim 11 , the first illuminating light propagating through the second planar waveguide before being coupled by the first grating.

13. The flowcell of claim 1 , wherein the first and second gratings have different coupling angles.

14. The flowcell of claim 13 , wherein the first and second gratings have different grating periods.

15. The flowcell of claim 1 , wherein the first grating is offset, relative to the second grating, in a travel direction of the first illuminating light.

16. The flowcell of claim 15 , wherein the first and second gratings have different coupling angles.

17. The flowcell of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises (i) a first substrate including the first sample surface and (ii) a second substrate including the second sample surface, the flowcell further comprising a channel between the first and second sample surfaces.

18. The flowcell of claim 17 , the first illuminating light to propagate through the channel before being coupled by the first grating.

19. A flowcell comprising:
a first substrate that includes a first sample surface, and a second substrate that includes a second sample surface, the first sample surface facing the second sample surface;
first means for coupling first illuminating light into the first substrate to illuminate the first sample surface; and
second means for coupling second illuminating light into the second substrate to illuminate the second sample surface.

20. The flowcell of claim 19 , wherein the first means couples the first illuminating light into a first planar waveguide of the flowcell, wherein the first means is further for coupling the first illuminating light out of the first planar waveguide, wherein the second means couples the second illuminating light into a second planar waveguide of the flowcell, and wherein the second means is further for coupling the second illuminating light out of the second planar waveguide.

Assignees

• Illumina Inc

Inventors

• Sun Yinghua
• Hong Stanley S
• Erie Frederick
• Nemiroski Alex
• Bowen M Shane
• Condello Danilo
• Dehlinger Dietrich
• Krumbuegel Marco A
• Lam Anthony
• Liu Aaron
• Obradovic Bojan
• Pratt Mark

Classifications

• G01N2021/6482

  Sample cells, cuvettes · CPC title

• G01N2021/6463

  Optics · CPC title

• G01N2021/6439

  with indicators, stains, dyes, tags, labels, marks · CPC title

• G01N21/6428

  Measuring fluorescence of fluorescent products of reactions or of fluorochrome labelled reactive substances, e.g. measuring quenching effects, using measuring "optrodes" (in vivo A61B5/00; immunoassay G01N33/53) · CPC title

• G01N21/645

  Specially adapted constructive features of fluorimeters · CPC title