High-sensitivity nanophotonic sensors with passive trapping of analyte molecules in hot-spots

Optical sensing which captures fingerprint information of chemical or biological substances with light, plays a crucial role in many areas including environmental sensing, medical diagnostics and homeland security. Scientists from University at Buffalo demonstrated an optical sensor design which utilizes nano-scale trenches to passively concentrate and trap trace analytes in a solution, leading to the capability of detecting picogram level biomolecules such as glucose and amino acids. The devices also achieved effective trapping of nano-particles.