Novel nano-scale silicon-based athermal optical sensing technologies

基于纳米尺度波导的光学传感是生物传感的新兴领域，并且是一种非常有前途且高度灵敏的技术，其以非常低的成本提供对目标生物分子的瞬时检测。纳米级尺寸在样品有限的应用中是一个至关重要的优势，在这些应用中，可以用非常少量的分析物有效地检测分子相互作用;然而，当前的传感器性能受到温度效应的限制，这会影响检测器的准确性。在这项研究中，学生团队将建模，设计和制造三种新型，无热（即温度无关），纳米级硅基波导传感技术的组件：基于谐振器的倏逝场传感器，等离子体传感器和亚波长光栅波导传感器。这些使用独特的新芯片设计（在卡尔顿大学内部制造），包括堆叠环形谐振器，倾斜布拉格光栅和亚波长光栅配置。无热解决方案将是传感技术的一项技术创新，它消除了对片上加热器和反馈系统的需求，降低了功耗，减少了传感器的占地面积。与麻省理工学院和国家研究理事会（NRC）的顶级硅光子学研究小组的积极合作，以及包括化学家和临床医生在内的跨学科研究环境，将引导研究朝着成功的方向发展。这三种新设计解决了医学研究和诊断中广泛的传感应用，包括检测和治疗传染病。 该研究计划将为加拿大的社会，健康和生活质量做出重大贡献，并对加拿大的健康和医疗系统产生长期影响。 此外，这项研究的结果可以创造新的经济风险，提高加拿大工业在新技术方面的全球竞争力。该计划还将为纳米级光学生物传感领域的高素质人才的培训创造宝贵的机会，为加拿大知识经济的潜在增长贡献。

Nano-scale waveguide based optical sensing is an emerging field for biosensing, and is a very promising and highly sensitive technology offering instantaneous detection of target bio-molecules at a very low cost. The nano-scale size is a crucial advantage in sample-limited applications where molecular interactions can be detected effectively with a very small quantity of analytes; however current sensor performance is limited by temperature effects, which compromise detector accuracy. In this research, student teams will model, design and fabricate components for three novel, athermal (i.e. temperature-independent), nano-scale silicon-based waveguide sensing technologies: resonator based evanescent field sensor, plasmonic sensor, and subwavelength grating waveguide sensor. These use unique new chip designs (fabricated in-house at Carleton University) including stacked ring resonators, a tilted Bragg grating, and a subwavelength grating configuration. Athermal solutions will be a technological innovation for sensing technology by eliminating the need for on-chip heaters and feedback systems, reducing power consumption and decreasing the sensor's footprint. Active collaboration with top silicon photonics research groups at MIT and the National Research Council (NRC), as well as an interdisciplinary research environment including chemists and medical clinicians, will guide the research in a successful direction. The three new designs address a broad spectrum of sensing applications in medical research and diagnosis, including detection and treatment of infectious diseases. The research program will contribute significantly to society, health, and quality of life in Canada and offers a long-term impact on the Canadian health and medical systems. In addition, results from this research can create new economic ventures and increase the global competitiveness of Canadian industry in new technologies. The program will also create valuable opportunities for the training of highly qualified personnel in the field of nano-scale optical biosensing, for potential growth contributions to Canada's knowledge-based economy.