Appeal No. 2006-1787
Application No. 09/746,361
the same refractive index as the fused silica
capillary. The hyper-hemisphere in this illustrative
embodiment has a diameter of 3 mm.
A substantially planar surface 102 is formed in the
hyper-hemisphere 100. The substantially planar surface
is located at the internal aplanatic radius. As
illustrated in FIG. 2(a), a curved groove 104 is formed
along the diameter of the substantially planar surface
of the hyper-hemisphere 100. The groove is a half
cylinder sized to fit the outside diameter of the
capillary, for example, 360 .mu.m.
A second section of the lens is configured to form a
hemisphere 106. The hemisphere 106 is made of fused
silica to match the index of refraction of the
capillary. Other transparent and non-fluorescing
materials could be used for the hyper-hemisphere and
hemisphere. However, optimal results require that the
index be close to that of the flowcell (or simply,
"cell") or capillary. The hemisphere's dimensions in
this illustrative embodiment have been chosen so that
the size of its planar surface matches that of the
hyper-hemisphere. The hemisphere could be larger or
smaller than that illustrated without affecting
performance. The hemispherical exterior surface 108 in
the present embodiment is aluminized to form a retro-
reflecting hemisphere that collects forward-scattered
or fluorescent light as shown in FIG. 2(a). The
hemisphere substantially increases the solid angle over
which scattered light is collected. Additionally, the
hemisphere increases the effective path length of the
excitation beam through the sample leading to a very
substantial increase in signal intensity.
A substantially planar surface 110 is formed on the
hemisphere 106. Just as with that of the hyper-
hemisphere, the substantially planar surface 110 of the
hemisphere 106 has a curved groove 112 formed along its
diameter similar in dimensions to the groove in the
hyper-hemisphere.
The substantially planar surfaces of the hyper-
hemisphere and the hemisphere, 102 and 110
respectively, are mated such that the groove forms a
channel 114 as illustrated in FIG. 2(a). A fused silica
capillary 116 with an inside diameter of, for example,
50 .mu.m, and an outside diameter of, for example,
7
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007