A Proposal for Optical Diagnostics Through the Enhancement of Diffraction Patterns Using Thin-film Interference Filters

Coarse clumping of solid materials within diseased biological cells can have a marked influence on the light scattering pattern. Perturbations in refractive index lead to distinct varia­tions in the cytometric signature, especially apparent over wide scattering angles. The large dynamic range of scattering intensities restricts collection of data to narrow angular intervals be­lieved to have the highest potential for medical diagnosis. We propose the use of an interfer­ence filter to reduce the dynamic range. Selective attenuation of scattering intensity levels is expected to allow simultaneous data collection over a wide angular interval. The calculated angu­lar transmittance of a commercial shortwave-pass filter of cut-off wavelength 580 nm indicates significant attenuation of scattering peaks below ${\~}\;10^{circ}$, and reasonable peak equalization at higher angles. For the three-dimensional calculation of laser light scattered by cells we use a spectral method code that models cells as spatially varying dielectrics, stationary in time. How­ever, we perform preliminary experimental testing with the interference filter on polystyrene microspheres instead of biological cells. A microfluidic toolkit is used for the manipulation of the microspheres. The paper intends to illustrate the principle of a light scattering detection system incorporating an interference filter for selective attenuation of scattering peaks.