Patent ID: 8293177

Claim:
A high throughput diagnostic assay and multiple analyte detection apparatus for simultaneous diagnosis or detection of multiple species, comprising a photonic crystal waveguide and an array of photonic crystal microcavities and further comprising: a substrate; a slab disposed on the substrate; a plurality of void columnar members etched through the slab, wherein the plurality of void columnar members form a periodic lattice with a lattice constant α; a core in the slab having an input side on a first end of the photonic crystal waveguide and an output side on a second end of the photonic crystal waveguide; the photonic crystal waveguide formed within the core by a row of void columnar members from the input side to the output side, wherein the row of void columnar members is filled with the material of the slab; an input impedance taper in the photonic crystal waveguide at the input side of the photonic crystal waveguide in the plane of the slab, wherein the input impedance taper is formed by one or more void columnar members from the input side shifted away and normal to the photonic crystal waveguide and adjacent the length of both sides of the photonic crystal waveguide; an input ridge waveguide in the core coupled to the input impedance taper in the photonic crystal waveguide, in the plane of the slab; an output impedance taper in the photonic crystal waveguide at the output side of the photonic crystal waveguide in the plane of the slab, wherein the output impedance taper is formed by one or more void columnar members from the output side shifted away and normal to the photonic crystal waveguide and adjacent the length of both sides of the photonic crystal waveguide; and an output ridge waveguide in the core coupled to the output impedance taper in the photonic crystal waveguide, in the plane of the slab; wherein the array of photonic crystal microcavities comprise one or more optical microcavities formed by a group of columnar members, wherein the group of columnar members is filled with the material of the slab and wherein the one or more optical microcavities are parallel to and shorter than the core are separated from each other and the photonic crystal waveguide by one or more lattice constants; wherein the photonic crystal waveguide supports one or more guided modes of a broadband source; wherein the array of photonic crystal microcavities with one or more polymer molecules or biomolecules coated on the array of photonic crystal microcavities support one or more resonance modes comprising one or more resonant frequencies resulting in minima in the transmission spectrum of the one or more guided modes of the broadband source at the corresponding resonant frequencies of the one or more optical microcavities; and wherein the one or more polymer molecules or biomolecules bind other molecules resulting in shifting the resonance frequencies of the one or more optical microcavities and hence the minima in the transmission spectrum of the one or more guided modes of the broadband source.