Scintillating optical fiber detectors for DNA sequencing

Abstract We have developed a two-dimensional detector (SOFI) for 32 P emitting molecules used in molecular biology by combining scintillating optical fibers (SOFs) and a multianode photomultiplier (MAPM). A good efficiency (15%) was obtained by suppressing the internal cross talk of the MAPM with a new electronic device. Using this improvement we are developing two new detectors using SOFs for DNA sequencing. We shall present the basic principle of these detectors and the results in efficiency and position accuracy obtained with the first prototypes. The advantage of these detectors over currently available DNA sequencers will be discussed.