Patent ID: 7667184

Claim:
An optical information reader comprising: a substrate on which one or more biological materials labeled by a combination of presence or extent of a plurality of kinds of optical labeling elements are immobilized at one or more different immobilized positions; a light-receiving end capable of receiving light from said substrate; an optical information measuring unit which obtains optical information on a specific measuring object on said substrate based on an electric signal obtained by converting the light received by said light-receiving end by a photoelectric element, which performs photoelectrical conversion according to different characteristics determined depending on said measuring object, said optical information measuring unit comprising a plurality of photoelectric elements having said different characteristics; and a scanning unit which scans said substrate by effecting relative movement between said substrate and the light-receiving end; a light distribution unit which extracts light from the light-receiving end, and simultaneously distributes the extracted light to each photoelectric element, the extracted light having a plurality of wavelength ranges, each wavelength range corresponding to a different measuring object on said substrate, each distribution of the extracted light to each photoelectric element corresponding to a different wavelength range; and an optical waveguide via which the light distribution unit extracts the extracted light from the light-receiving end, the optical waveguide extending from the light-receiving end; wherein each photoelectric element comprises a plurality of photomultipliers, each plurality of photomultipliers having a different multiplication factor; and wherein the extracted light distributed to each photoelectric element is further distributed between the photomultipliers thereof.