System and method for chemical imaging of microarrays

1. In a method for providing spectral image of an array of samples provided on a substrate by illuminating each sample independently of other samples, the improvement comprising the steps of: (i) illuminating all samples with photons simultaneously to produce emitted photons from each sample; (ii) simultaneously receiving emitted photons from all samples at a tunable filter; and; (iii) forming a spectral image from the emitted photons, the spectral image including a plurality of sub-images, each sub-image corresponding to a sample in the array of samples.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emitted photons further comprise Raman, absorption, fluorescence, reflection and transmitted photons.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tunable falter is selected from the group consisting of LCTF and AOTF.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of: (iv) selecting a sub-image from the plurality of sub-images; and (v) forming an independent image of said sample.

5. A method for simultaneously obtaining a spectral image of plural samples of an array, comprising: (a) simultaneously illuminating each of the plurality of samples with illuminating photons, said illuminating photons interacting with each sample to produce interacted photons from each sample; (b) collecting the interacted photons from each sample simultaneously; and (c) forming a spectral image from the collected photons for each of the plurality of samples simultaneously.

6. The method of claim 5 , filtering detected photons through a tunable filter.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein interacted photons include Raman, Absorption, fluorescence and reflection.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing an array having a plurality of wells.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing an array defined by a substrate having a plurality of samples.

10. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing an array defined by a substrate having a plurality of samples, said array having a dimension not larger than 6 mm 2 .

11. The method of claim 5 , further comprising providing an array defined by a substrate having a plurality of samples, said array having a dimension not larger than 3 mm 2 .

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein the spectral image of the plurality of samples is spatially-resolved.

13. A method for simultaneous spectroscopical imaging of samples comprising: providing an array defined by at least two samples, illuminating each of the two samples with illuminating photons, said illuminating photons interacting with each sample to produce interacted photons from each sample; collecting the interacted photons from each sample simultaneously with an optical device; and forming a spectral image from the collected photons for each sample simultaneously with a processing apparatus; wherein the array has an external dimension such that the samples are within a simultaneous field of view of the optical device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein illuminating each of the two samples is simultaneous.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the processing apparatus is a tunable filter.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the optical device further comprises an optical lens.

17. The method of claim 13 , filtering detected photons through a tunable filter.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein interacted photons include Raman, Absorption, fluorescence and reflection.

19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising providing an array having a plurality of wells.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the array is not larger than 6 mm 2 .

21. The method of claim 13 , wherein the array is not larger than 3 mm 2 .

22. A system for simultaneous spectral imaging of a plurality of samples arranged on an array, comprising:

an illumination source for providing illuminating photons to said plurality of samples, the illuminating photons interacting with each of the plurality of samples to emit interacted photons;

an optical device for collecting the interacted photons and directing the photons to an imaging device, the imaging device simultaneously forming a plurality of images corresponding to each of the plurality of samples; wherein each of the plurality of samples is spatially-resolved; and

an array for receiving said plurality of samples, the array having an external dimension such that the samples are within a simultaneous field of view of said optical device.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the spectral imaging further comprises Raman imaging and Fluorescent imaging.

24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the interacted photons include Raman, fluorescence, illuminating, emitted reflection, absorption and transmission photons.

25. The system of claim 22 , wherein the illumination source is a laser light source.

26. The system of claim 22 , wherein the illumination source is a spot-laser.

27. The system of claim 22 , wherein the optical device further comprises a lens.

28. The system of claim 22 , wherein the optical device further comprises an optical filter.

29. The system of claim 22 , wherein the imaging device further comprises a tunable filter and a charge-coupled device.

30. The system of claim 22 , wherein the array further comprises a substrate having a dimension of less than 1 cm 2 .

31. The system of claim 22 , wherein the array further comprises a substrate having a dimension of less than 3 mm×4 mm.