Patent ID: 7633621

Claim:
A method of determining the concentration of an analyte in a specimen comprising the steps of: providing a hybrid laser that comprises a first and second laser for producing at a single output a plurality of emission wavelengths that substantially match distinguishing wavelength spectral characteristic features along at least a portion of a characteristic optical spectrum of the analyte; modulating the first laser with a plurality of tone frequencies where at least one of said tone frequencies is above a maximum frequency response of the second laser so that at least one emission wavelength from the second laser is not modulated by a tone frequency; applying the modulated output emission wavelengths to the specimen under examination; detecting radiation reflected, scattered or passed through the specimen; producing a set of values representative of wavelength spectral characteristic features of the analyte within the characteristic optical spectrum portion from the applied modulated output emission wavelengths and the detected reflected radiation; and determining the differences in the produced set of values with predetermined reference values representative of desired wavelength spectral characteristic features of the analyte to produce a final value representative of a measurement of concentration of the analyte in the specimen.