Patent ID: 6441892
Filing Date: 2002-08-27
Classification: G01J,G01N

Abstract:
An instrument for measuring the wavelength characteristics of light output from a material in response to a light input, comprising:(a) a light source for producing input light; (b) a first filter, said first filter defining a first active area, said first filter being positioned to receive said input light from said source, said first filter having a characteristic that varies from position to position along said first active area, said first filter transmitting a portion of said input light through said first filter as first filtered light; (c) a second filter, said second filter defining a second active area, said second filter being positioned to receive said first filtered light from said first filter, said second filter being positioned in facing spaced relationship to said first filter to define a space for the placement of a sample to be analyzed, said second filter having a characteristic that varies from position to position along said second active area, said second filter transmitting a portion of said input first filtered light through said second filter as second filtered light, at least some of the facing portions of said second filter facing said first filter having a transmissive characteristic different from that of the facing portion of said first filter; (d) a detector for detecting said second filtered light, said detector being a two dimensional array; (e) a third filter, said third filter defining a third active area, said third filter being positioned to receive said second filtered light from said second filter, said third filter having a characteristic being a band reject analog of the bandpass characteristic of said first filter, said third filter blocking said first filtered light and transmitting at least a portion of said input second filtered light through said third filter as third filtered light, said third filtered light passing on to said detector, whereby excitation wavelengths do not overload the detector and hinder the detection of fluorescence emissions; wherein said first and second filters have a bandpass characteristic which varies from position to position to allow the measurement of an emission spectrum; and wherein said first and second filters each comprise a series of strips with different bandpass characteristics, and are angularly positioned with respect to each other.