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US 7,241,988 B2Granted
System and method of sorting materials using holographic laser steering
AssigneeArryx, Inc.
InventorsLewis Gruber, Kenneth Bradley, Ward Lopes, Robert W. Lancelot, Joseph S. Plewa, David G. Grier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention employs a beam steering apparatus to isolate valuable cells from other cells, tissues, and contaminants. In one embodiment, the system balances optical trapping against biasing flow to parallelize cell sorting under the flexible control of computer program-directed traps which differentially manipulate cells based on their composition or labels to direct separation.
Claims71
A method of sorting objects comprising:
- distributing the objects over a surface of a structure;
- and evaluating the objects in said structure according to a predetermined criteria using a beam steering apparatus;
- wherein said structure is a disc.
A method of sorting objects comprising:
- distributing the objects over a surface of a structure:
- and evaluating the objects in said structure according to a predetermined criteria using a beam steering apparatus;
- wherein said structure is a meltable substrate, and said substrate is heated to melt a surface of said substrate, and the objects are embedded in said surface of said substrate.
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus;
- and a structure having a surface on which the objects are distributed;
- wherein the objects are sorted using said bean steering apparatus, according to whether the objects meet predetermined criteria;
- wherein said structure is a disc.
1 more element
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus;
- and a structure having a surface on which the objects are distributed;
- wherein the objects are sorted using said bean steering apparatus, according to whether the objects meet predetermined criteria;
- wherein said structure is a substrate, and said substrate is heated to melt a surface of said substrate, and the objects are embedded in said surface of said substrate.
1 more element
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- means for distributing the objects over a surface of a structure;
- and means for evaluating the objects in said structure according to predetermined criteria using a beam steering apparatus;
- wherein said structure is a meltable substrate, and the substrate is heated to melt a surface of the substrate, and the objects are embedded in the surface of the substrate.
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein said optical element has one of a static and a dynamic surface.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein said optical element includes gratings, holograms, lenses, mirrors, prisms, and waveplates.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein said optical element has a time dependent function.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein said objective lens has a relatively low numerical aperture.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein said object is transferred from one optical trap to a second optical trap.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein an intensity of selected optical traps and lines of said optical traps is varied.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- and an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- and a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- wherein a bias force is increased such that objects flow past a rectilinear array rather than being trapped by said optical traps.
3 more elements
An apparatus for sorting objects comprising:
- a beam steering apparatus including:
- a laser which provides a laser beam for illumination;
- a diffractive optical element which diffracts said beam into a plurality of beamlets;
- an objective lens which converges the beamlet, thereby producing optical gradient conditions resulting in an optical data stream to form an optical trap;
- a sample chamber into which the objects are introduced, trapped and sorted;
- and a beam splitter which controls each beamlet by altering a hologram encoded in a dynamic surface medium of the diffractive optical element.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.