Integrated Nanophotonic Silicon Platform for On-Chip Ultra Sensitive Bio-Detection

智能价值我们建议研究一种新型的芯片上与CMOS兼容的硅光子结构平台，用于检测少量用作生物标记的金纳米粒子。金纳米粒子可以选择性地结合到生物识别元件上，并可以使用标准的生物化学技术作为生物标记。检测单个金纳米颗粒的能力将使生物分子的超灵敏生物检测成为可能。由于生物标记的小横截面，单颗粒检测从根本上是具有挑战性的。使用强光限制的芯片上结构，例如谐振微腔，用作标签的金属纳米颗粒的消光截面可以提高几个数量级。通过测量通过光子结构的透射率的下降，可以检测到尺寸小到5 nm的金属纳米颗粒的存在。光源、探测器和传感器在单个芯片上的高度集成将使用亚微米尺寸的高折射率对比度波导来实现。在这个项目中，我们将为拟议的生物传感平台开发所需的组件：(I)在芯片上路由光信号；(Ii)使用微米尺寸的芯片上硅微腔来检测金属纳米颗粒。我们将演示在单个芯片上集成构成平台的不同组件。广泛影响拟议的研究，除了在生物传感领域的强大影响外，还将成为研究新的集成结构的基础，以增强集成系统中光和物质的相互作用。应用包括放大器、传感器、激光等。这些应用将在电信、化学和医学等领域产生重大影响。作为该项目的一部分，我们将整合两名积极参与研究的REU学生。该项目涉及物理、化学、应用物理、光学、光子学和材料科学。我们的建议将为本科生提供参与跨学科项目的机会，这将为他们提供非常丰富的暑期研究经验。我们还将在康奈尔大学为本科生和研究生教授的两门课程中整合用于生物传感的光子学主题。这一主题将在课堂和实验室实验中介绍。

Intellectual meritWe propose to investigate a novel on-chip CMOS-compatible platform of Silicon photonic structures for the detection small numbers of gold nanoparticles that are used as biological labels.Gold nanoparticles can selectively bind to bio-recognition elements and can be used as biological labels using standard biochemistry techniques. The ability to detect single gold nanoparticles will enable ultra sensitive bio-detection of biological molecules. Single particle detection is fundamentally challenging due to the small cross section of the biological labels. The extinction cross-section of the metal nanoparticles used as labels can be enhanced by orders of magnitude using strong light confining on-chip structures, such as resonant microcavities. The presence of a metal nanoparticle with size as small as 5nm can be detected by measuring the decrease in transmission through the photonic structure. The high degree of integration of the light source, detectors and sensors on a single chip will be achieved using high index contrast waveguides with sub-micron size dimensions. In this project we will develop the components for the proposed biosensing platform required for: (i) Routing optical signals on-chip and (ii) Detecting metal nanoparticles using micron-size on-chip Silicon microcavities. We will demonstrate the integration of the different components forming the platform on a single chip.Broader ImpactThe proposed research, in addition to its strong impact in the field of biosensing, will form the basis for investigating novel integrated structures for enhancing the interaction of light and matter in integrated systems. Applications include amplifiers, sensors, lasers, etc. These applications will have strong impact in areas such as telecommunications, chemistry, and medicine. As part of this program we will integrate two REU students that will be actively involved in the research. This project lies at the interface of physics, chemistry, applied physics, optics, photonics, and materials science. Our proposal will give undergraduate students an opportunity to be involved in an interdisciplinary project, which should provide them with a very enriching summer research experience. We will also integrate the topic of photonics for biosensing, in two courses currently taught in Cornell for undergraduate and graduate students. The topic will be introduced both in lectures and in lab experiments.