A report presents discussion of time-resolved measurements in optoelectronic microbioanalysis. Proposed microbioanalytical "laboratory-on-a-chip" devices for detection of microbes and toxic chemicals would include optoelectronic sensors and associated electronic circuits that would look for fluorescence or phosphorescence signatures of multiple hazardous biomolecules in order to detect which ones were present in a given situation. The emphasis in the instant report is on gating an active-pixel sensor in the time domain, instead of filtering light in the wavelength domain, to prevent the sensor from responding to a laser pulse used to excite fluorescence or phosphorescence while enabling the sensor to respond to the decaying fluorescence or phosphorescence signal that follows the laser pulse. The active-pixel sensor would be turned on after the laser pulse and would be used to either integrate the fluorescence or phosphorescence signal over several lifetimes and many excitation pulses or else take time-resolved measurements of the fluorescence or phosphorescence. The report also discusses issues of multiplexing and of using time-resolved measurements of fluorophores with known different fluorescence lifetimes to distinguish among them.

This work was done by Gregory Bearman and Dmitri Kossakovski of Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For further information, access the Technical Support Package (TSP) free on-line at www.nasatech.com/tsp  under the Bio-Medical category.

In accordance with Public Law 96-517, the contractor has elected to retain title to this invention. Inquiries concerning rights for its commercial use should be addressed to

Intellectual Property group
JPL
Mail Stop 202-233
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA 91109
(818) 354-2240

Refer to NPO-21046, volume and number of this NASA Tech Briefs issue, and the page number.



This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
Document cover
Time-Resolved Measurements in Optoelectronic Microbioanalysis

(reference NPO-21046) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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