Abstract: A novel optical arrangement for fluorescence detection that employs spatial separation as well as spectral filter to increase the signal to noise ratio is proposed. Using a prism and two mirrors, the elliptical laser beam of a laser diode, as an excitation light, is homogenized and the transmitted excitation light is separated from the fluorescence not to reach the collecting optics. Uncooled CCD can capture the fluorescence image of up to 40 fluorescently-labeled protein patterns without scanning or mechanical translation. This paper presents the simulation, construction and measurement results of the developed optical system. The measurements show that the combination of prism and mirrors converts the excitation light from the laser diode to uniform illumination on the specimen, and provides the separation between excitation and fluorescence light to give high signal to noise ratio. It is also possible to assay various protein concentrations ranging from 1000 to 10 ng/ml reliably. We believe that the proposed fluorescence detection system can be used to build a commercially valuable, low cost, hand-held or miniature fast detection device for point-of-care applications.

Abstract: The angular and the power characteristics of noncollinear acousto-optic tunable filters are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The dependencies of the acoustic wave frequency, the bandpass width and the diffraction efficiency of the filter are studied as functions of the angle of incidence of the optical wave and of the acoustic signal power density. These dependencies are illustrated and tested on the basis of a realized such a filter based on tellurium dioxide (TeO2). A good agreement of theory and experiment is demonstrated, which indicates that the approach used can be effective in designing such devices.