Patent ID: 8501099

Claim:
A system for detecting a plurality of different analytes in a single bodily fluid sample comprising: a test chamber having at least one sidewall and configured to contain at least a portion of a flowing bodily fluid sample; at least one excitation electromagnetic energy source configured to direct a first energy beam having a first wavelength but not a second wavelength, and at a different time to direct a second energy beam having the second wavelength but not the first wavelength into the test chamber, the first energy beam inducing a first thermoelastic expansion in a first analyte that absorbs the first wavelength but not the second wavelength, the second beam inducing a second thermoelastic expansion in a second analyte that absorbs the second wavelength but not the first wavelength, the first and second beams extending across the entire cross sectional area of the flowing sample wherein no portion of the sample escapes illumination by the beam as it flows through the test chamber; and, a sensor configured to detect said first and second thermoelastic expansions in the flowing bodily fluid sample in the test chamber, the sensor configured to measure changes in optical reflectance that result from the thermoelastic expansion of the first and second analytes and to independently determine the presence of each of the first and second analytes based on the independent detection of the first and second thermoelastic expansions.