Patent ID: 9322778
Filing Date: 2016-04-26
CPC Classification: G01N

Claim Text:
1. An optical sensing apparatus comprising: a broadband source configured to generate a first light beam containing a p-polarized component and an s-polarized component; an interferometer configured to direct the p-polarized component and the s-polarized component to a first path and a second path, respectively, wherein the first path has a different length than the second path such that the p-polarized component and the s-polarized component are reflected and then recombined to provide a second light beam with interference between the p-polarized component and the s-polarized component; a reference device configured to receive a part of the second light beam to extract a reference optical characteristic variation induced by the interference; a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor configured to receive the other part of the second light beam and to introduce an SPR effect associated with a sample to the second light beam, such that a third light beam with a probe optical characteristic variation induced by the SPR effect is generated; a polarizer configured to receive the third light beam to generate a probe light beam; a lens placed in the back of the polarizer and configured to couple the probe light beam to an analyzer, such that the analyzer extracts the probe optical characteristic variation induced by the SPR effect of the probe light beam; and a processing module configured to determine characteristics of the sample by comparing the reference optical characteristic variation and the probe optical characteristic variation to determine characteristics of the sample.