An alternative approach to coping with the ever increasing demand for faster communications hardware is to design modems that are capable of operating its speeds at a higher data rate than a speed required for a single port of the standard communication rate for that modem. More specifically, the present invention relates to various methods and apparatuses that include the BC and further include characterization and identification technologies, such as Bioactive Chip Mass Spectrometry. In another embodiment, the surface includes mechanical structures, such as connectors, variations in thickness and apertures, that vary the load support characteristics in different directions. The laser beam is capable of traversing from the laser source, through the beam transfer assembly and the lens assembly, to a laser target.