Enhancing sensitivity of a whispering gallery mode biosensor by subwavelength confinement

O. Gaathon, J. Culic-Viskota, M. Mihnev, I. Teraoka, S. Arnold

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The authors demonstrate enhanced sensitivity of a spherical whispering gallery mode biosensor (WGMB) by confining orbiting light near the surface using a subwavelength (sub- λ) high refractive index layer on a fluorine doped silica microsphere (radius R∼200 μm). Their experiments at a free space wavelength λ∼1310 nm show that the frequency shift sensitivity by changing the external refractive index is increased by more than 700% by adding a 340 nm thick polystyrene layer. This advance is expected to move the WGMB well into the lead as the most sensitive method for unlabeled biosensing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number223901
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume89
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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