BIOSENSOR BASED ON SINGLE-MOLECULE FLUORESCENCE DETECTION

摘要

A method for sensing an analyte [502] includes bringing a matrix containing the analyte into contact with a sensor device having a sensing volume containing fluorescent emitters [500] that switch from a first state [504] to a second state [506] when activated by chemical activation by the analyte. The fluorescent emitters are excited with optical radiation [510] to generate fluorescence optical radiation [514]. The excitation induces photo-bleaching of the activated fluorescent emitters, which limits the duration of the generated fluorescence optical radiation. Each resulting pulse of the fluorescence optical radiation is associated with a single one of the fluorescent emitters. The pulses are detected [516] and processed [518] to determine the presence/concentration of the analyte from changes in the detected fluorescence optical radiation.