Design modifications to a remote biological and chemical luminescence analyser

Initially employed for clinical analysis, the biological and chemical lumin escence application was extended to food, agriculture, veterinary medicine and the environment. Several authors have described the use of optical fibr es as optical transducers connected to the light detector of a luminometer within the context of bio-sensor development. This paper seeks to improve r emote biological and chemical luminescence analyser design by evaluating re mote versus local mode when modifying light collection and transmission. In spite of specific design, light losses were high, with a transmission of o nly approximately 20%. Further improvements are feasible: straight alignmen t of the optical fibre bundle without a mirror could reduce light losses, a nd an integration time increase could compensate for them. (C) 2001 Silsoe Research Institute.