Parallel confocal detection of single molecules in real time.

Authors: Lundquist, Paul M and Zhong, Cheng F and Zhao, Peiqian and Tomaney, Austin B and Peluso, Paul S and Dixon, John and Bettman, Brad and Lacroix, Yves and Kwo, Deborah P and McCullough, Etienne and Maxham, Mark and Hester, Kevin and McNitt, Paul and Grey, Donald M and Henriquez, Carlos and Foquet, Mathieu and Turner, Stephen W and Zaccarin, Denis

The confocal detection principle is extended to a highly parallel optical system that continuously analyzes thousands of concurrent sample locations. This is achieved through the use of a holographic laser illumination multiplexer combined with a confocal pinhole array before a prism dispersive element used to provide spectroscopic information from each confocal volume. The system is demonstrated to detect and identify single fluorescent molecules from each of several thousand independent confocal volumes in real time.

Journal: Optics letters
DOI: 10.1364/OL.33.001026
Year: 2008

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