Patent ID: 8497992

Claim:
A system for determining whether interaction occurs between a trial substance and a target substance, the system comprising: a photonic crystal sensor having a photonic crystal structure and a defect member disposed adjacent the photonic crystal structure, the defect member defining an operative surface able to receive the target substance and the trial substance, the photonic crystal sensor operable to receive an input light signal that is internally reflected at the operative surface and that produces a resonance reflectance dip in a resultant output light signal, the resonance reflectance dip being indicative of at least one of scattering and absorption of the input light signal; a light source that inputs the input light signal to the photonic crystal structure and the defect member; an output light sensor that receives the output light signal and that detects the resonance reflectance dip therein to detect whether interaction occurs between the trial substance and the target substance; an identity detector that identifies the trial substance that interacts with the target substance, and a delivery system, a processor, a target photonic crystal sensor, and a control photonic crystal sensor, wherein: each of the target and control photonic crystal sensors include a respective one of the photonic crystal structure and the defect member, the delivery system delivers the target substance to the target photonic crystal sensor and withholds delivery of the target substance to the control photonic crystal sensor, the delivery system delivers the trial substance to each of the target and control photonic crystal sensors, the delivery system delivers a downstream flow from the target photonic crystal sensor and a downstream flow from the control photonic crystal sensor, and the processor compares an amount of the trial substance in the downstream flow from the target photonic crystal sensor to an amount of the trial substance in the downstream flow from the control photonic crystal sensor.