Nanospectroscopy Using Integrated Ultra-high Quality Factor Microcavities

这项研究的性质是研究集成在单个硅光子芯片上的超高质量因数微腔，用于光谱识别单个纳米颗粒和生物分子，在高光谱分辨率下发现它们的化学成分，并观察它们之间的相互作用。拟议的研究计划将导致开发单芯片实验室纳米光谱仪，该光谱仪可用于在个体水平、体外、超高光谱分辨率和实时询问纳米物体及其相互作用。 耳语走廊微腔可以探测到纳米级的物体，分辨率可以达到单分子。在拟议的研究计划中，我们计划克服微腔传感器社区面临的两大挑战。其一是使传感器能够区分不同类型的纳米颗粒。第二种是将微腔传感器和支持电路集成到一块芯片上，以实现低成本和便携应用。为了解决第一个挑战，我们将把目前的研究扩展到基于回音廊微腔的纳米光谱。我们将研究微腔增强拉曼光谱，并利用独特的腔光机械振荡作为一种新的光谱方案。微腔产生的短脉冲将用于超快和瞬变光谱。为了使我们的传感器便携，我们将研究将我们的设备微型化到单个绝缘体上硅(SOI)芯片。还将开发支持这项研究的数值工具。 纳米技术的快速发展需要对纳米级物体进行传感、大小调整和区分的设备。提出的研究目标是为了满足需求。这项研究的成功完成将引起药物开发工程师的兴趣，他们一直在寻找能够检测和区分单个蛋白质分子并在分子水平上监测它们与药物相互作用的便携式设备。物理学家、微生物学家和纳米技术专家也将发现，这项工作在观察单个粒子水平上的光子、纳米和蛋白质相互作用方面也很有价值。这项研究的预期成果包括开发一种集成的纳米传感和单分子纳米光谱芯片实验室设备。这项研究的成功示范将把相关领域推向单分子分类的新领域。这将通过加强加拿大在相关研究和工业部门的领导地位、为高素质人员提供培训以及改善社会生活质量而使加拿大受益。

The nature of the proposed research is to investigate ultra-high quality factor microcavities integrated on a single silicon photonic chip for spectrally discerning individual nanoparticles and biomolecules, discovering their chemical compositions in high spectral resolution and observing their mutual interactions. The proposed research program will result in the development of lab-on-a-chip nanospectrometers that can be used to interrogate nano-objects and their interactions at individual level, in vitro, of super high spectral resolution and in real time. A whispering gallery microcavity can detect nanoscale objects down to the single molecule resolution. In the proposed research program, we plan to overcome two major challenges that the microcavity sensor community is facing. One is to enable the sensor to distinguish between different types of nanoparticles. The second is to integrate the microcavity sensor and supporting circuits onto a single chip for low-cost and portable applications. To solve the first challenge, we will extend our current research to whispering gallery microcavity based nanospectrometers. We will investigate microcavity enhanced Raman spectroscopy and employ the unique cavity optomechanical oscillation as a novel spectroscopic scheme. Short pulse generated from the microcavity will be used for ultra-fast and transient spectroscopy. To make our sensor portable, research on miniaturizing our device into a single silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip will be investigated. Numerical tools supporting the research will also be developed. The rapid advancement of nanotechnologies demands devices of sensing, sizing and distinguishing the nanoscale objects. The proposed research targets to fill the needs. The successful completion of the research will be of interest to drug development engineers who are constantly searching for portable devices that can detect and distinguish single protein molecules as well as monitor their interactions with drugs at molecular levels. Physicists, microbiologists, and nanotechnologists will also find this work valuable in observing photon, nanospecimen, and protein interactions at individual particle levels. The anticipated outcomes of the research include the development of an integrated nanosensing and single-molecule nanospectroscopic lab-on-a-chip device. The successful demonstration of the proposed research will advance the related fields towards a new arena of single-molecule classification. This will benefit Canada via enhancing Canadian leadership in the related research and industry sectors, providing training to highly qualified personnel as well as improving societal quality of life.