Fiber optic thin-layer cell
AssigneeUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsJames L. Anderson, Jeffrey D. Brewster
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fiber optic thin-layer cell for use in spectrophotometric analysis of liquid or gaseous matter, and a related method of spectrophotometric analysis, which comprises the use of fiber optics in conjunction with low-volume thin-layer cells to direct a source of light into an enclosed cell area in which a sample is held for analysis, and to receive of the light after it passes through the sample and direct the light to a means of photometric detection. The individual fibers of the incoming and outgoing bundles of fiber optics are disposed generally along the plane of the cell, on opposite sides, so that the light is directed through the width of the cell area and along its length.
Claims63
A fiber optic thin-layer cell for use in spectrophotometric analysis of liquid or gaseous matter, which comprises:
- (a) a lower solid cell body piece having a flat and smooth upper surface;
- (b) an upper solid cell body piece with a flat and smooth lower surface, disposed above said lower cell body piece so that the surfaces of the two cell body pieces are approximately parallel to each other and form a relatively thin planar space between the two surfaces;
- (c) a first optical fiber light guide bundle, with the individual optical fibers at one end of said bundle unbundled and spread out in a generally flat array along the inside of one side of the planar space formed by the two cell body pieces, for directing light from a light source at the other end of said bundle into the space;
- (d) a second optical fiber light guide bundle, with the individual optical fibers at one end spread out in a generally flat array along the inside of the side of the planar space opposite the fibers of said first optical fiber bundle, for receiving the light directed into the space by said first optical fiber bundle and directing the light to a light detection device for desired analysis;
- (e) means for sealing an enclosed portion of the planar space formed by said cell body pieces and for holding the ends of the individual optical fibers of the unbundled ends of said first and second optical fiber bundles in place within the enclosed space, so that the gas or liquid to be analyzed may be contained in the cell formed thereby;
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- (f) means for introducing and removing the matter to be analyzed into and from the cell.
The fiber optic thin-layer cell as described in 18, wherein the enclosed cell space has a volume of less than 25 microliters.
A fiber optic thin-layer cell, for use in spectrophotometric analysis of liquid or gaseous matter, which comprises:
- (a) lower solid cell body piece having a flat and smooth upper surface;
- (b) an upper solid cell body piece with a flat and smooth lower surface, disposed above said lower cell body piece so that the surfaces of the two cell body pieces are approximately parallel to each other and form a relatively thin planar space between the two surfaces;
- (c) a thin light transparent frame spacer with parallel and smooth upper and lower faces and with inner and outer edges perpendicular to the faces, sealed between said upper and lower cell body pieces to form an enclosed cell space so that gas or liquid to be analyzed may be contained therein;
- (d) a first optical fiber light guide bundle, with the individual optical fibers at one end of said bundle unbundled and spread in a generally flat array no thicker than the thickness of said light transparent frame spacer, with the end of each fiber having a smooth cross-section and butted up against the outside edge of said frame spacer, for directing light from a light source at the other end of said bundle, through the light transparent frame spacer, and into the enclosed cell space;
- (e) a second optical fiber light guide bundle, with the individual optical fibers at one end of said bundle unbundled and spread in a generally flat array no thicker than the thickness of said light transparent frame spacer, with the end of each fiber having a smooth cross-section and butted up against the edge of said frame spacer opposite the ends of the fibers of said first optical fiber bundle, for receiving the light directed into the enclosed cell space by said first optical fiber bundle and directing the light to a light detection source for desired analysis;
- (f) means for holding the ends of the fibers of said first and second optical fiber bundles in the flat arrays and in position against the edge of the frame spacer;
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- (g) means for introducing and removing the matter to be analyzed into and from the cell.
A method of spectrophotometrically analyzing liquid or gaseous matter, which comprises the steps of:
- (a) introducing the matter to be analyzed into a thin planar enclosed cell;
- (b) directing light from a source into the cell generally parallel to the plane of the thin cell by sending the source of light into one end of a bundle of optical fibers, and forming the other end of the bundle into a flat array of spread out optical fibers, and directing the light from the array into the thin cell with the plane of the array being the same plane as the thin cell;
- (c) directing the light which passes through the cell and the matter to be analyzed into another flat array of optical fibers which form an optical fiber bundle;
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- (d) directing the light emanating from the other end of the bundled fibers to a light detection device for analysis of the light.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.