Optical stack, optical device and optical construction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024151586-A1
Application number	US-202218279264-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 1, 2022
Priority date	Mar 1, 2021
Publication date	May 9, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

An optical device for sensing a presence of an analyte in a person is provided. The optical device includes a light source, an optical stack, and a reader. The light source emits a first light having a first wavelength. The optical stack is placed on a skin of the person. The optical stack includes a sensor material and an optical filter. The sensor material emits a second light having a second wavelength when irradiated with the first light. An optical property of the second light is sensitive to the presence of the analyte. The optical filter is disposed on the sensor material and includes a plurality of microlayers numbering at least 10 in total. The optical filter has different first and second transmittances at the respective first and second wavelengths.

First claim

1 . An optical stack comprising a test sample disposed on a first optical filter, the test sample configured to convert at least a portion of an incident excitation light having an excitation wavelength to a converted light having a converted wavelength different from the excitation wavelength, the first optical filter comprising a plurality of microlayers numbering at least 20 in total, each of the microlayers having an average thickness of less than about 500 nanometers (nm), such that the plurality of microlayers has:
an optical transmittance T 1 ≥20% at the excitation wavelength and at a first incident angle; an optical transmittance T 2 ≥20% at the converted wavelength and at a second incident angle; and an optical reflectance R 1 ≥40% at at least one of the excitation and converted wavelengths and at at least one of the first and second incident angles;
wherein, for the at least one of the excitation and converted wavelengths, the optical transmittance of the first optical filter changes by at least a factor of 2 when the incident angle corresponding to the at least one of the excitation and converted wavelengths changes to the incident angle corresponding to the other one of the excitation and converted wavelengths.

2 . The optical stack of claim 1 , wherein for a substantially normally incident light and for at least one wavelength in a visible wavelength range from about 420 nm to about 680 nm, the plurality of microlayers transmits at least 60% of the incident light for each of mutually orthogonal first and second polarization states.

3 . The optical stack of claim 1 , wherein:
for the first incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises a first peak at a first peak wavelength with a corresponding full width at half maximum (FWHM) that comprises the excitation, but not the converted, wavelength; and for the second incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises a second peak at a second peak wavelength with a corresponding FWHM that comprises the converted, but not the excitation, wavelength.

4 . An optical device for sensing a presence of an analyte, the optical device comprising:
the optical stack of claim 3 ;
a light source configured to emit the incident excitation light having the excitation wavelength and incident on the first optical filter at the first incident angle, the test sample converting at least a portion of the incident excitation light to the converted light at least after at least a portion of the incident excitation light is transmitted by the first optical filter, at least a portion of the converted light exiting the optical stack at least after a portion of the converted light is transmitted by the first optical filter at the second incident angle; and
an optical sensor configured to receive and sense the converted light exiting the optical stack.

5 . The optical stack of claim 1 , wherein for the second incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises a lower transmission band separating first and second higher transmission bands, the first higher transmission band comprising the excitation wavelength and the second higher transmission band comprising the converted wavelength.

6 . The optical stack of claim 1 , wherein for the second incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises at least a first peak with a corresponding first full width at half maxima (FWHM) that comprises the excitation, but not the converted, wavelength, and a second peak with a corresponding second FWHM that comprises the converted, but not the excitation, wavelength, wherein each of the first and second FWHMs is less than 200 nm wide.

7 . The optical stack of claim 1 , wherein for the second incident angle less than about 10 degrees, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises a band edge separating a higher transmission band comprising shorter wavelengths from a lower transmission band comprising longer wavelengths, the higher transmission band comprising the excitation and the converted wavelengths, such that increasing the second incident angle by less than about 60 degrees, shifts the higher and lower transmission bands so that the higher transmission band comprises the excitation wavelength and the lower transmission band comprises the converted wavelength.

8 . An optical device for sensing a presence of an analyte, the optical device comprising:
a sensor material emitting a second light having a second wavelength when irradiated with a first light having a different first wavelength, a first optical property of the emitted second light being sensitive to the presence of the analyte; and an optical filter disposed on the sensor material and comprising a plurality of microlayers numbering at least 20 in total, each of the microlayers having an average thickness of less than about 500 nm, such that for at least a second incident angle, an optical transmission of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises a transmission band edge disposed between the first and second wavelengths.

9 . An optical device for sensing a presence of an analyte, the optical device comprising:
a sensor material emitting a second light having a second wavelength when irradiated with a first light having a different first wavelength, a first optical property of the emitted second light being sensitive to the presence of the analyte; and an optical filter disposed on the sensor material and comprising a plurality of microlayers numbering at least 10 in total, each of the microlayers having an average thickness of less than about 750 nm, wherein:
for a first incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength comprises at least first and second peaks with respective first and second full width at half maxima (FWHM), the first FWHM comprising the first, but not the second, wavelength, the second FWHM comprising the second, but not the first, wavelength, each of the first and second FWHMs less than about 300 nm wide; and
for a different second incident angle, an optical transmittance of the plurality of microlayers versus wavelength is less than about 10% at the first wavelength and comprises at least a third peak with a corresponding third FWHM that comprises the second, but not the first, wavelength.

10 . The optical device of claim 9 , wherein the at least first and second peaks further comprises a third peak with a corresponding third FWHM that does not comprise either the second or the first wavelengths.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Company

Inventors

• Wheatley John A
• Muyres Dawn V
• Bjork Jason W
• Roehrig Mark August
• Benoit Gilles J
• Gerten Theresa J
• Yang Zhaohui
• Sherman Audrey A
• Acharya Bharat R
• Kivel Edward J

Classifications

• G01J3/513 Primary

  having fixed filter-detector pairs · CPC title

• G01J3/0264

  Electrical interface; User interface · CPC title

• G01J3/0267

  Sample holders for colorimetry · CPC title

• G01J3/0275

  making use of sensor-related data, e.g. for identification of sensor parts or optical elements · CPC title

• G01J3/10

  Arrangements of light sources specially adapted for spectrometry or colorimetry · CPC title