
Thin-film optics speed COVID-19 testing in medical devices
The new Ultra Series qPCR product family includes real-time, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-specific filters for integration into medical equipment that performs COVID-19 testing of patient samples.
“As an ‘essential business’ in this trying time, we have moved quickly to offer our optical coating expertise and stand ready to help with the deployment, improvement, or development of technologies including qPCR to help slow the pandemic,” says Alluxa CCO, Peter Egerton. “We are grateful for our dedicated team of engineers and support personnel, our customers, and their collective experience and commitment to help fight this virus by any means necessary.”
With greater than an optical density of six (OD6) out-of-band blocking and state-of-the-art center wavelength tolerances of less than ±0.3%, the new ultra-steep filters, says the company, offer the highest transmission levels available with a passband average of >95%. The new filters aid in the fluorescent detection of the virus and cover most common fluorophores for single and multiplexed qPCR filters, including FAM, Cy5, HEX, JOE, ROX, TexasRed, and TRITC.
The company – which provides thin-film optics for a wide variety of applications, including autonomous vehicles, telecommunications, robotics, semiconductors, and defense – is currently supplying OEM qPCR-specific optical filters which are assembled into medical instruments globally for use in PCR testing of individuals.
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