PRELIMINARY-RESULTS FROM CVD DIAMOND DETECTORS FOR BIOMOLECULAR IMAGING

An innovative biomolecular imaging system incorporating a Chemical Vap our Deposition diamond detector is in development. The synthetic diamo nd is used as a UV detector to image electrophoretically separated bio molecules. The microstrip diamond detectors have good quantum efficien cy, excellent UV response and low-leakage current. A deuterium lamp ha s been used with the detector to examine the UV properties of a ran of materials used in electrophoresis, Preliminary results are presented which include: UV sensitivity of the detector, diamond QE measurements and response time of the detector, Gel resolution and spatial resolut ion of the system are also presented, We discuss how the use of absorp tion-rather than emission-based detection combined with the UV propert ies of diamond may be used to decrease the amount of biological sample required and to reduce the electrophoretic imaging time significantly .