The present invention relates to a method for evaluation of an interaction between an analyte in a fluid sample and a ligand immobilized on a sensor surface of a biosensor, comprising the steps of providing (101) a plurality of fluid samples, each containing known concentrations of analyte providing (102) a plurality of needles and a plurality of sensor surfaces or detection spots, at least some of the sensor surfaces or detection spots having a known amount of ligand immobilized thereon, and each needle being configured to inject a fluid sample to a sensor surface or detection spots dividing (103) said plurality of fluid samples into at least two groups injecting (104) the fluid samples of a first of said groups to the sensor surfaces or detection spots by means of the needles to permit association of the analyte to the ligand monitoring (104) each sensor surface or detection spot and collecting binding data, and repeating (105) the steps of injecting fluid samples and monitoring detection spots and collecting binding data for each group of fluid samples, wherein the steps above are performed sequentially, without intermediate regeneration or renewal of the immobilized ligand.

The invention also relates to a biosensor system for evaluation of an interaction between an analyte in a fluid sample and a ligand immobilized on a sensor surface, to software for performing the steps of the method and to a computer readable medium for storing said software.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a multilayer thin film using an angle-resolved spectral interference image according to polarization. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a multilayer thin film using an angle-resolved spectral interference image according to polarization in an apparatus for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a measurement object coated with the multilayer thin film, the apparatus including: an illumination optical module having a light source emitting light; a first beam splitter configured to reflect some of the light emitted from the illumination optical module; an objective lens configured to input some of the light reflected from the first beam splitter to the measurement object constituted by the multilayer thin film and reflect the remaining light to a reference plane to form interference light on a back focal plane; a second beam splitter in which interference light where the reflected light incident and reflected to the measurement object interferes with the reflected light reflected from the reference plane is incident, wherein some of the interference light is reflected and the remaining interference light is transmitted; a first angle-resolved spectral image acquiring unit configured to receive interference light reflected from the second beam splitter and first-polarize the interference light located in the back focal plane of the objective lens to acquire a first polarized interference image; and a second angle-resolved spectral image acquiring unit configured to receive interference light transmitted from the second beam splitter and second-polarize the interference light located in the back focal plane of the objective lens to acquire a second polarized interference image.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a multilayer thin film using an angle-resolved spectral interference image according to polarization. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a multilayer thin film using an angle-resolved spectral interference image according to polarization in an apparatus for measuring a thickness and a refractive index of a measurement object coated with the multilayer thin film, the apparatus including: an illumination optical module having a light source emitting light; a first beam splitter configured to reflect some of the light emitted from the illumination optical module; an objective lens configured to input some of the light reflected from the first beam splitter to the measurement object constituted by the multilayer thin film and reflect the remaining light to a reference plane to form interference light on a back focal plane; a second beam splitter in which interference light where the reflected light incident and reflected to the measurement object interferes with the reflected light reflected from the reference plane is incident, wherein some of the interference light is reflected and the remaining interference light is transmitted; a first angle-resolved spectral image acquiring unit configured to receive interference light reflected from the second beam splitter and first-polarize the interference light located in the back focal plane of the objective lens to acquire a first polarized interference image; and a second angle-resolved spectral image acquiring unit configured to receive interference light transmitted from the second beam splitter and second-polarize the interference light located in the back focal plane of the objective lens to acquire a second polarized interference image.

Provided is a method capable of precisely, reproducibly and directly measuring, by an ellipsometry method, optical constants (refractive index n, extinction coefficient κ) of a fluorine-containing organosilicon compound thin film having a homogeneous surface with a small surface roughness and haze value. The method for measuring the optical constants of the thin film of the fluorine-containing organosilicon compound, includes: a step of forming the thin film of the fluorine-containing organosilicon compound on a base material, the thin film having, as surface roughnesses, an arithmetic mean roughness of smaller than 1.0 nm and a root mean square roughness of smaller than 2.0 nm, a haze value of smaller than 0.3 and a film thickness of 3 to 10 nm; and a step of measuring the optical constants of the thin film formed on the base material by the ellipsometry method.

An inspecting instrument to be used for measuring, using a test substance-containing solution containing a test substance and a liquid, which is contained in the test substance-containing liquid. The inspecting instrument includes a wall that has a periodic structure resulting from a plurality of recesses or protrusions, the plurality of recesses or the plurality of protrusions including a refractive index adjusting layer on surfaces thereof, the refractive index adjusting layer being a layer having a refractive index greater than a refractive index of the test substance-containing solution or being a silicon layer. A method of measuring the concentration of a test substance in a liquid, measured using the inspecting instrument, has high accuracy.

The invention relates to a method for determining the thickness and refractive index of a layer (6) on a substrate (26). The layer (6) having a layer boundary surface (30) facing the substrate (26) and a layer top side (28) facing away from the substrate (26). In said method, the following steps are performed; imaging the layer (6), by confocal microscopy, along an optical axis (8), determining a point spread function resolved along the optical axis (8) al the layer boundary surface (30) and the layer lop side (28), determining an apparent thickness of the layer at a lateral point of the layer from the distance between two maxima of the point spread function, determining the widening of a maximum that the point spread function has at the layer boundary surface (30) relative to the width of the same maximum that the point spread function has at the layer top side (28), at the lateral point, and determining the thickness and refractive index of the layer (6) at the lateral point from the apparent thickness and the widening.

Apparatus and methods for measuring mode spectra for ion-exchanged glass substrates having a steep index region are disclosed. An interfacing fluid is provided between the coupling prism and the glass substrate. The interfacing fluid thickness is selected so that the variation in modal birefringence with fluid thickness is reduced to an acceptable level. The coupling prism can include a prism coating on the coupling surface so that the substrate-prism interface includes the prism coating. The coupling prism can also include stand-off members that serve to define the thickness of the interfacing fluid.

One embodiment of a method for restricting laser beams entering an aperture to a chosen dyad and measuring their separation; the method works with frequency-modulated coherent light, and one embodiment uses a moveable, variable-aperture apparatus (FIG. 1) in conjunction with a converging lens (6) and a detector (7); and key elements of other embodiments are also described.

A growth rate detection apparatus has a reflectometer to measure reflectivity of a thin film by receiving reflected light of light irradiated with the thin film, a growth rate candidate calculator to calculate a first growth rate and a second growth rate which are candidates for a growth rate of the thin film based on a temporal variation period of the reflectivity and a refractive index of the thin film in a case where the reflectometer irradiates the thin film with light of a first wavelength and to calculate a third growth rate and a fourth growth rate which are candidates for the growth rate of the thin film based on the temporal variation period and the refractive index in a case where the reflectometer irradiates the thin film with light of a second wavelength, and a growth rate selector to select a common growth rate.

A system for facilitating the measurement of optical parameters of a substance sitting on a surface, so that identification of the substance by reflectance spectroscopy can be made without ambiguity; the system comprises a structure using a bistatic arrangement and an accompanying method to limit, to just two beams, the propagation of light from a laser transmitter capable of producing coherent light of multiple wavelengths, via an interposed transparent dielectric, to a receiver thereby preventing multiple reflections within the transparent dielectric from reaching the receiver; and the bistatic arrangement comprises a multi-wavelength laser transmitter and a receiver mounted on a telescoping boom, with both the laser transmitter and receiver being independently orientable, with the positions and orientations of the laser transmitter, the receiver and the telescoping boom electronically sensed at all times.