# US 10,228,280 B2 · Optical sensor > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,228,280 B2 - Document ID: US10228280B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/428,511 - Filed: 2017-02-09 - Published: 2018-08-09 - Granted: 2019-03-12 - Earliest claimed: 2017-02-09 - Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation - Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation - Inventors: Stefan Abel; Jean Fompeyrine; Antonio La Porta - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10228280B2 ## CPC - G01J 1/44: Electric circuits {(for command of an exposure part G03B7/02)} - G01N 15/00: Investigating characteristics of particles; Investigating permeability, pore-volume or surface-area of porous materials - G01N 21/0303: {Optical path conditioning in cuvettes, e.g. windows; adapted optical elements or systems; path modifying or adjustment (G01N21/031 - G01N21/15 take precedence)} - G01N 21/05: Flow-through cuvettes (G01N21/09 takes precedence; handling fluid samples G01N1/10) - G01N 21/47: Scattering, i.e. diffuse reflection (G01N21/25, G01N21/41 take precedence {G01N21/55 takes precedence}) - G01N 33/0004: {Gaseous mixtures, e.g. polluted air} - G01N 2021/4711: {Multiangle measurement} - G01N 2021/4719: {using a optical fibre array} - G01N 2201/08: Optical fibres; light guides - G01N 2201/12: Circuits of general importance; Signal processing - G01N 2201/1296: using neural networks - G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N) - G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q) ## Abstract An optical sensor includes an interaction region configured to comprise an analyte and an illumination source configured to illuminate the interaction region with an optical input signal. The optical sensor further includes an optical coupling structure configured to collect transmitted parts of the optical input signal from the interaction region and an optical neuromorphic network that is directly optically coupled to the optical coupling structure and is configured to receive and process the transmitted parts of the optical input signal in the optical domain. The invention further concerns a related method for analyzing an analyte by an optical sensor. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An optical sensor comprising an interaction region configured to comprise an analyte; an illumination source configured to illuminate the interaction region with an optical input signal; an optical coupling structure configured to collect transmitted parts of the optical input signal from the interaction region; and an optical neuromorphic network being directly optically coupled to the optical coupling structure and being configured to receive and process the transmitted parts of the optical input signal in the optical domain. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical neuromorphic network is configured to be trained on performing a classification of the analyte. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical neuromorphic network is an optical reservoir system. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical reservoir system comprises a plurality of optical reservoir nodes; and a plurality of optical reservoir connections between the plurality of optical reservoir nodes. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) An optical sensor according to claim 4, further comprising one or more input nodes; one or more output nodes; a plurality of output connections between the optical reservoir nodes and the output nodes, wherein one or more of the plurality of output connections comprise weighting elements which can be adjusted during a training process. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical neuromorphic network comprises one or more nonlinear optical elements. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical coupling structure comprises one or more optical waveguides. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interaction region comprises a circular region having a circular shape, the circular region being surrounded by at least one waveguide configured to illuminate the interaction region and at least one waveguide to collect the transmitted parts of the input signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to process a plurality of different wavelength. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of interaction regions. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of optical reservoir systems. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interaction region comprises a microfluidic channel, the illumination source is configured to illuminate at least a part of the microfluidic channel and the microfluidic channel is configured to carry the analyte in a dissolved form in a fluidic medium. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical neuromorphic network is configured to perform a forecasting of one or more properties of the analyte. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interaction region comprises a waveguide structure and wherein a surface or bulk of the waveguide structure is configured to interact with the analyte. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 14, wherein a surface of the interaction region is functionalized as to provide specific adsorption sites for molecules to be detected. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to use static light scattering, dynamic light scattering and/or absorption spectroscopy to analyze the analyte. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical neuromorphic network comprises a plurality of output layers, wherein each of the plurality of output layers is configurable to be trained on performing a classification according to different classification criteria. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the illumination source is a broadband illumination source. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) An optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured such that the transmitted parts of the optical input signal have a different spectrum than the optical input signal.