SBIR Phase I: Cavity-Enhanced Capillary Electrophoresis

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project proposes to apply cavity-enhanced spectroscopy to Capillary Electrophoresis (CE). CE typically relies on absorption spectroscopy to detect analytes eluting from a separation column. Although this detection method is very useful, the capillary's short absorption pathlength has limited its sensitivity, forcing the development of more complex detection schemes. Preliminary results suggest that an optical cavity can be used to enhance this absorption sensitivity by a factor of hundred to over ten thousand. The aim of this proposal is to interface a CE column to an optical cavity and demonstrate the enhanced detection of various biological samples. Due to the increasing popularity of CE in biochemical research, the commercial applications of this technology continue to grow. It is currently used to analyze DNA fragments, proteins, and various drugs. Moreover, it is also being considered as an alternate to gel electrophoresis for DNA sequencing and is a leading prospect for lab-on-a-chip technologies. The commercial applications of this project are in genomic sequencing, medical diagnostics, and drug screening.