Focal Molography Academy
Focal molography measures patterned molecular binding in real time. Bound molecules scatter guided light toward a focus. The optical response reflects their spatial arrangement; recognition chemistry and controls establish specificity. Local referencing can strongly suppress shared optical disturbances. Learn how these principles support measurements in complex samples and where their limits lie.
Start with the training to plan a first experiment, then explore any part of the technology in depth.
New to the MACS Matchmaker? Take the guided training to plan a first run. Want the physics in depth? Open the academy and read any part in any order.
Plan a first experiment with the MACS Matchmaker. Six chapters, three videos, six live labs, and knowledge checks. Sent before training and installation.
Start the training → Academy · guided route and referenceFollow the recommended route or revisit a specific topic. Connect optical principles, surface chemistry, and binding-curve interpretation through a worked example.
Enter the academy →Follow the optical path from laser to camera. Separate published research values from illustrative model inputs.
Explore → Physics · waveguideHow a thin high-index film traps light, what a guided mode is, and how the evanescent field weights molecules near the surface.
Explore → Physics · couplingWhy a beam cannot enter a guided mode directly, how a grating coupler supplies the missing momentum, and why the angle is sharp.
Explore → Physics · instrumentWhat the reader does with the physics: the 785 nm laser, the coupling-angle search, imaging the focus below the chip, and the camera read.
Explore →How a row of scatterers diffracts light, why many lines make sharp peaks, and how curving them focuses to a point.
Explore → Physics · the mologramHow binding sites are written into the surface and how specific binding builds a coherent focus and why matched background contributes less.
Explore → Physics · surfacesA low-fouling coating, and grooves matched to ridges so non-specific binding lands equally on both and contributes little coherent signal.
Explore → Physics · quantificationThe Airy disc, why intensity is the square of coherent mass, coherent mass density, and why the arrangement of the mass matters.
Explore →Separate common-mode optical changes from patterned binding, and see why ridge-preferential adsorption can still interfere.
Explore → Physics · limitsWhat sets the smallest resolvable signal: baseline noise, analyte efficiency, and how lithography and referencing move the limit.
Explore → Physics · bridgeCoherent mass density over time is the binding curve: baseline, association, dissociation, and the rate constants kon, koff, KD.
Explore → ReferenceThe key terms defined, and the peer-reviewed work behind focal molography with DOIs.
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