Surface plasmon resonance sensor and methods for the utilization thereof

A method of sensing the presence or absence of a compound of interest using a surface plasmon resonance sensor comprising:

• providing a surface plasmon resonance sensor comprising:
• a substrate-mode metal film coated waveguide cartridge comprising:
• a planar waveguide including a plurality of reflector surfaces within the planar waveguide;
• and
• a metal film coated on the planar waveguide, the metal film and the planar waveguide defining a plasmon resonance interface directly on the planar waveguide;
• a sample flow cell adjacent the substrate-mode metal film coated waveguide cartridge;
• a transverse magnetic polarized light source optically connected to the planar waveguide;
• a cylindrical diverging lens optically connected to the planar waveguide;
• and
• a detector array comprising a plurality of photodetectors optically connected to the cylindrical diverging lens;
• transmitting light rays from the transverse magnetic polarized light source into the planar waveguide;
• monitoring an intensity of light rays from the planar waveguide through the cylindrical diverging lens with the detector array so as to locate a position of a surface plasmon resonance attenuated light band on the detector array;
• introducing a sample into the sample flow cell;
• and
• sensing the presence or absence of the compound of interest in the sample by detecting a translation of the position of the surface plasmon resonance attenuated light band as a shift in the position of the surface plasmon resonance attenuated band on the detector array.

A method of sensing the presence or absence of a compound of interest using a surface plasmon resonance enhanced fluorescence sensor comprising:

• providing a surface plasmon resonance enhanced fluorescence sensor comprising:
• a substrate-mode metal film coated waveguide cartridge comprising:
• a planar waveguide including a plurality of reflector surfaces within the planar waveguide;
• and
• a metal film coated on the planar waveguide, the metal film and the planar waveguide defining a plasmon resonance interface directly on the planar waveguide;
• a sample flow cell adjacent the substrate-mode metal film coated waveguide cartridge;
• an optical filter adjacent, and optically connected to, the sample flow cell;
• a fluorescence photodetector array adjacent, and optically connected to, the optical filter;
• a transverse magnetic polarized light source optically connected to the planar waveguide;
• a cylindrical diverging lens optically connected to the planar waveguide;
• and
• a detector array comprising a plurality of photodetectors optically connected to the planar waveguide;
• transmitting light rays from the transverse magnetic polarized light source into the planar waveguide;
• monitoring an intensity of light rays from the planar waveguide through the cylindrical diverging lens with the detector array so as to obtain a reference signal;
• monitoring an intensity of light from the sample flow cell through the optical filter with the fluorescence photodetector array so as to obtain a reference value for an initial level of fluorescence;
• introducing a sample comprising a fluorescent label into the sample flow cell;
• compensating for fluctuations and drift in the transverse magnetic polarized light source by detecting a change in the reference signal;
• and
• sensing the presence or absence of the compound of interest in the sample by detecting a change in the initial level of fluorescence.