Optical instrument including excitation source

Abstract

An optical instrument is provided for simultaneously illuminating two or more spaced-apart reaction regions with excitation beams generated by a light source. The light source can include an area light array of light emitting diodes, one or more solid state lasers, one or more micro-wire lasers, or a combination thereof. According to various embodiments, a Fresnel lens can be disposed along a beam bath between the light source and the reaction regions. Methods of analysis using the optical instrument are also provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of illuminating a plurality of spaced-apart reaction regions with excitation beams, the method comprising:
 providing a light emitting diode source comprising more than one light emitting diode;   generating light excitation beams with the light emitting diode source such that more than one light emitting diode illuminates each spaced-apart region;   thermally cycling the contents of the plurality of spaced-apart reaction regions;   reflecting the light excitation beams off of a beam splitter;   generating emission beams in at least two of the plurality of spaced-apart regions; and   passing the emission beams through a first focusing lens and the beam splitter to a detector.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first focusing lens comprises a Fresnel lens. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of reaction regions includes a sample capable of emitting emission beams when illuminated by the excitation beams, and the method further includes:
 transmitting the emission beams through a second focusing lens;   detecting the emission beams transmitted through the second focusing lens; and   generating primary data signals representative of the emission beams.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the second focusing lens comprises a Fresnel lens. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the first focusing lens and the second focusing lens are the same focusing lens. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the sample comprises components for nucleic acid sequence amplification. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the light emitting diode source is capable of simultaneously illuminating at least two of the reaction regions. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the light emitting diode source is capable of simultaneously illuminating at least four of the reaction regions. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the light emitting diode source comprises an organic light emitting diode. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced-apart reaction regions comprises 96 reaction regions. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter comprises a dichroic beam splitter. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter comprises a 50/50 beam splitter. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the beam splitter comprises a dichroic reflector.