Spinning-disk laser interferometers for immuno-assays and proteomics: the BioCD

Spinning-disk self-referencing laser interferometers are being developed as high-speed high-sensitivity platforms for immunoassay and proteomics applications. Their compact disc (CD) formats have the potential for ultra-high-throughput multianalyte assays as well as for binding kinetics and quantitative analysis. Self-referencing interferometers are immune to mechanical variations, enabling interferometric sensitivities and speeds that are several orders of magnitude larger than for their counterpart fluorometric techniques. This paper defines for the first time three classes of the BioCD that differ in their method of self-referencing and reviews their relative merits and sensitivities. Each uses a near-field probe with far-field detection. The three classes are: microdiffraction, adaptive optical, and photonic cavity.