Patent ID: 7943092

Claim:
A surface plasmon resonance biosensor system for analysis of a fluid sample comprising: (a) a support means; (b) a capacitive angle sensor mounted to the support means having a shaft; (c) a rotatable adapter means rotatably mounted on the shaft; (d) a prism or a half cylinder mounted on the rotatable adapter means; (e) a light source mounted to the support means, positioned to project a beam of light through a first side of the prism or half cylinder to a second side of the prism or half cylinder; (f) a thin metallic film with an inner surface affixed on or adjacent to the prism or half cylinder; (g) a sample holder having a sealing means removably sealed against an exposed surface of the thin metallic film, the sample holder, sealing means and thin metallic film defining a sample chamber; (h) a light response element as a transducer to generate an intensity output mounted on a third side of the prism or half cylinder, wherein when the sample is provided to the sample chamber and the light source projects the beam of light, the capacitive angle sensor measures an incident angle of the beam of light upon the metallic film to provide an incident angle output and the light response element measures light intensity reflected from the inner surface of the thin metallic film to provide the intensity output; (i) an analog to digital (A/D) data acquisition device electrically connected to the capacitive angle sensor and the light response element for generating a data signal when the sample is provided to the sample chamber from an incident angle output of the capacitive angle sensor and an intensity output from the light response element; and (j) a personal computer electrically connected to the data acquisition device to receive and process the data signal generated by the data acquisition device and provide a surface plasmon resonance spectrum when the fluid sample is provided to the sample chamber.