Patent ID: 7224462

Claim:
A surface plasmon resonance system comprising: at least one light source operable to generate a source beam, a prism having a rear surface at least partially coated with a metallic coating selected from gold and silver, at least one layer under test positioned on the rear surface of the prism, wherein the source beam is directed at the layer under test thereby defining an angle between the source beam and the rear surface of the prism, a detector operable to detect light that is at least one of reflected and scattered by the layer under test, wherein the source beam is directed towards the layer under test at a selected angle, and the source beam is shifted along a first plane to illuminate at least a portion of the layer under test based on the selected angle and the position of the layer under test on the rear surface of the prism, a turntable operable to rotate about an axis of rotation and adjust the angle between the source beam and the rear surface of the prism to the selected angle, wherein the prism is coupled to the turntable, and a mirror coupled to a linear slide, wherein the linear slide is operable to linearly displace the mirror, the mirror being operable to direct the source beam towards the prism and the linear slide being operable to shift the source beam and illuminate at least a portion of the layer under test based on the selected angle and the position of the layer under test on the rear surface of the prism.