Abstract
A range of nanophotonic sensors composed of different materials and device configurations have been developed over the past two decades. These sensors have achieved high performance in terms of sensitivity and detection limit. The size of onchip nanophotonic sensors is also small and they are regarded as a strong candidate to provide the next generation sensors for a range of applications including chemical and biosensing for point-of-care diagnostics. However, the apparatus used to perform measurements of nanophotonic sensor chips is bulky, expensive and requires experts to operate them. Thus, although integrated nanophotonic sensors have shown high performance and are compact themselves their practical applications are limited by the lack of a compact readout system required for their measurements. To achieve the aim of using nanophotonic sensors in daily life it is important to develop nanophotonic sensors which are not only themselves small, but their readout system is also portable, compact and easy to operate. Recognizing the need to develop compact readout systems for onchip nanophotonic sensors, different groups around the globe have started to put efforts in this direction. This review article discusses different works carried out to develop integrated nanophotonic sensors with compact readout systems, which are divided into two categories; onchip nanophotonic sensors with monolithically integrated readout and onchip nanophotonic sensors with separate but compact readout systems.
Highlights
The drive to improve healthcare has prompted researchers to develop high performance sensors to enable diagnosis of diseases at an early stage
In these devices the signal output is altered by a change of the refractive index in close proximity to the sensor that is induced by applying an analyte
Integrated nanophotonic structures have shown their potential for developing compact and high-performance sensors, i.e., which have high sensitivity and low detection limit, demonstrated by proof of concept laboratory based experiments. These sensors are made of different materials such as metals, semiconductors or dielectrics and generally require external bulky and expensive equipment for their measurement
Summary
The drive to improve healthcare has prompted researchers to develop high performance sensors to enable diagnosis of diseases at an early stage. Nanophotonic sensors that are integrated on to a single chip are composed of different materials such as metals [26,27,28,29,30,31], semiconductors [32,33,34,35,36,37], dielectrics [38,39,40], or polymers [41,42], and consist of different device configurations such as an array of nanostructures [43,44,45,46], cavities [47,48,49,50,51,52], waveguides [53,54,55,56], interferometers [12,57,58,59], or gratings [60,61,62,63,64] These sensors are mostly based on the phenomenon of refractive index sensing [65]. A brief overview of different state-of-the-art resonant nanophotonic sensors composed of different materials such as metal, dielectric and semiconductor is presented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
