Optical design and development of a cost-efficient, compact, super-sensitive scanning confocal fluorescence microscope

The effective detection of very low abundant biomarkers can enable fast diagnosis of many severe and disabling diseases (e.g. Alzheimer's Disease) at an early stage. To develop a cost-efficient, super-sensitive optical fluorescence detection microscope, we have proposed an optical modelling approach to predict the signal-noise-ratio that considers various noise sources introduced by the components of the detection system. After the optimal design is identified, a tolerance analysis regarding typical perturbations is performed for further mechanical design and assembly. Finally, experiments have demonstrated a limit of detection at a low abundant concentration reaching 0.05 pmol/ml.