Patent ID: 7879596

Claim:
An apparatus for detection of analytes in a medium using diffraction of light, comprising: a source of illumination; a sensing element including a substrate having a planar surface and analyte-specific receptors laid out on said planar surface in a pre-selected pattern such that when analytes are present in a medium they bind to said analyte-specific receptors, said pre-selected pattern being configured so that under illumination by a beam of light a diffraction pattern is produced having at least one diffraction spot spaced from said beam of light with a sufficient amount of intensity of said diffraction pattern being located at said at least one diffraction spot to indicate presence of analytes bound to said analyte specific receptors, said pre-selected pattern excluding said analyte-specific receptors arrayed in parallel straight lines of substantially equal width spaced evenly from each other, or in a periodic array of circles, said source of illumination being positioned so as to illuminate said substrate surface; detection means positioned with respect to said sensing element to detect light diffracted from said illuminated surface; and processing means for analysing said diffracted light for presence of a diffraction pattern representative of binding of one or more analytes with their analyte-specific receptors and identifying from said diffraction pattern analytes present in said medium.