LASER INDUCED FLUORESCENCE CAPILLARY INTERFACE

摘要

An optical scheme that substantially eliminates spherical aberration and coma, thereby substantially improving fluorescence excitation and collection efficiency. The optical scheme utilizes a laser beam focused by an optical component (404) through the curved surface of a hyper-hemisphere (300). The hyper-hemisphere (300) focuses the beam sharply at a known point while avoiding spherical aberration and coma. The optical scheme includes both a hyper-hemisphere (100) and a hemisphere (106). Both the hyper-hemisphere (100) and hemisphere (106) have a substantially planar surface (110). The substantially planar surface (110) of the hyper-hemisphere (100) is optimally located so that a capillary or cell (116) can be positioned at an internal aplanatic radius. This results in an aplanatic focus at the capillary or cell (116) such that the spherical aberration and coma are zero. A single hyper-hemisphere (100) having a substantially planar surface can be used, wherein the capillary (116) is located at an aplanatic point on the substantially planar surface of the single hyper-hemisphere (100).