The invention relates to a method that detects the target substance by measuring a decrease in the optical signal generated by applying a first magnetic field to move the conjugate in the direction parallel to or away from the surface, etc. The invention also relates to an optical detection device wherein a liquid holding part has a sensing plate that can form a near field on a surface with light irradiated from a side of a rear face under a condition of total reflection, the liquid holding part being capable of holding a liquid sample that has a target substance and a magnetic particle that forms a conjugate with the target substance on the surface of the sensing plate, a light irradiation unit, a light detection unit, and a magnetic field application unit configured to apply a magnetic field to move the conjugate in the direction parallel to or away from the surface, etc.

Provided is a position detection method and a position detection device for detecting a position of a sensor chip and obtaining relative positional information between a well member and a prism as for a well chip type sensor chip in which the well member is provided on a prism. By applying measurement light to the sensor chip while changing a distance between the sensor chip and a measurement light irradiation unit and detecting reflected light traveling in a predetermined direction out of the reflected light generated when the measurement light is reflected by the sensor chip, at least any one of the position of the sensor chip and the relative position between a dielectric member and a sample solution holding member is detected on the basis of a change in intensity of the detected reflected light.

An electricity measuring type surface plasmon resonance sensor including: a plasmon polariton intensifying sensor chip in which a prism and a sensor chip including a transparent electrode, an n-type transparent semiconductor film, and a plasmon resonance film electrode arranged in this order are arranged in an order of the prism, the transparent electrode, the n-type transparent semiconductor film, and the plasmon resonance film electrode; and an electric measuring apparatus which directly measures a current or voltage from the transparent electrode and the plasmon resonance film electrode.

Disclosed herein is a method of determining a concentration of a subject based on fraction bound measurement. The method of determining a concentration of a subject based on fraction bound measurement may include fixing a ligand to a surface of an optical device, measuring a fraction bound of a subject to be detected based on an optical signal when the subject reacts to the ligand fixed to the surface of the optical device, and determining a relative value of a concentration of the subject based on a ratio of measured values of the fraction bounds of the subject and a reference signal.

A hand-held or portable SPR device focuses light at two or more positions on a noble metal sensor surface, functionalized to enable detection of different SPR curves and their respective minima. The detection is accomplished substantially simultaneously by obtaining SPR signals contemporaneously from the different locations on the sensor surface, on the same sensor. The SPR device may incorporate multiple light sources or a single light source with a beam that is shifted by deflectors in seriatim to focus on different positions on along the functionalized sensor surface. To control wettability of the sensor surface (to augment multiplexing), the sensor surface may include i) the addition of surface assembled monolayers (SAMs) and ii) surface bombardment by gaseous plasmas, most notably O.sub.2.

The invention relates to methods for characterizing the binding interactions between binding partners. The invention pertains to methods comprising contacting a first binding partner with a second binding partner that exhibits fast-off rate binding characteristics with the first binding partner to generate the binding interaction between the first binding partner and the second binding partner, wherein the first binding partner is immobilized onto a substrate that is designed to enhance the fluorescence signal of fluorescent molecules located near the substrate's surface, and wherein the second binding partner is a molecule that emits a fluorescent signal or is conjugated to molecule that emits a fluorescent signal. The interactions between the two binding partners can be analyzed based on multiple transient interactions between the two binding partners.

Sensors, systems and methods for detecting analytes in a sample are provided. Aspects of the subject methods include contacting a sensing surface of a sensor with a sample, and generating one or more data sets over a time interval, wherein the data sets are used to determine the presence or absence of a member of a binding pair in the sample. The subject methods find use in determining the presence or absence of one or more analytes in a sample, such as a biological sample (e.g., blood), and in the diagnosis and/or monitoring of various diseases and disorders, such as, e.g., infection with a virus.

An optical sensor device includes an optical waveguide portion having a core, the core having a first refractive index, and a functional material layer coupled to the optical fiber portion, the functional material layer being made of a metal oxide material, the functional material layer being structured to have a second refractive index, the second refractive index being less than the first refractive index. The functional material layer may be a nanostructure material comprising the metal oxide material with a plurality of holes or voids formed therein such that the functional material layer is caused to have the second refractive index.

A plasmonic waveguide (10), a biosensor chip (100) and a system, wherein the plasmonic waveguide (10) is applied to the biosensor chip (100), and comprises a base (11) and a plasmonic structure (12) provided on the upper surface of the base (11); the plasmonic structure (12) comprises a plurality of plasmons (121) periodically arranged, the plasmons (121) being metal split rings, and the annular openings of the plasmons (121) being used for fixing antibody probes (122). The plasmon waveguide (10) is provided in the biosensor chip (100), the target biomolecules in the detection liquid flowing into a microfluidic channel (31) can be captured by means of the antibody probes (122), and the plasmonic waveguide (10) is used to enhance the signal strength of terahertz waves emitted to the biosensor chip (100), thereby enhancing the signal strength of the reflected terahertz waves detected by a terahertz analyzer (300), improving the detection sensitivity, the signal-to-noise ratio and the reliability.

A monitoring system and method are presented for use in monitoring a target. The monitoring system comprises: an input utility for receiving input data comprising measured data indicative of optical response of the target measured under predetermined conditions and comprising phase data indicative of a two-dimensional profile of full phase of the optical response of the target in a predetermined two-dimensional parametric space including a two-dimensional range in which said target exhibits phase singularity; an analyzer module for processing said measured data and extracting at least one phase singularity signature of the target characterizing the target status, the phase singularity signature being formed by a number N of phase singularity points, each corresponding to a condition that the physical phase continuously accumulates a nonzero integer multiple m of 2 around said point.