Patent ID: 9746420
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G01N,G02B

Claim:
1. An imaging system, comprising: a sample platform; and an illumination and detection system, including: an illumination system that provides a beam of excitation light from a source to a target area on the sample platform; a sensor adapted to detect light and having an array of sensing locations; and one or more optical elements arranged and configured to image light emanating from the sample platform onto the sensor, wherein fluorescent light from a portion of the target area illuminated by the excitation light is imaged onto only a first portion of the sensor comprising a first plurality of the sensing locations and background light from proximal to the portion of the target area illuminated by the excitation light on the platform is simultaneously imaged onto only a second portion of the sensor comprising a second plurality of the sensing locations different from the first plurality of the sensing locations; and a scanning mechanism configured to adjust a relative position of the sample platform and the illumination and detection system such that the portion of the target area illuminated by the excitation beam changes at each of a plurality of scan positions, and wherein, at each scan position, a second signal detected by the second portion of the sensor is subtracted from a first signal simultaneously detected by the first portion of the sensor to produce a background-reduced signal for the scan position of the plurality of scan positions.