Silicon-based photonic crystal fluorescence enhancement and laser line scanning instrument

A silicon-based photonic crystal includes a silicon substrate, a first dielectric with a grating structure formed therein, and a second dielectric with a higher index of refraction that covers at least a portion of the grating structure. The first dielectric can be formed on the silicon substrate, or a Fabry-Perot optical cavity can be formed between the silicon substrate and the first dielectric. An instrument can excite a fluorophore coupled to the photonic crystal by focusing collimated incident light that includes the fluorophore's excitation wavelength to a focal line on the surface of the photonic crystal such that the focal line is substantially parallel to the grating direction and can detect fluorescence radiation emitted by the fluorophore in response to the incident light. To provide for fluorescence enhancement, the excitation wavelength and/or emission wavelength of the fluorophore can couple to an optical resonance of the photonic crystal.