Label-Free Biological and Chemical Sensing Using Whispering Gallery Mode Optical Resonators: Past, Present, and Future

Optical resonators are sensors well known for their high sensitivity and fast response time. These sensors have a wide range of applications, including in the biomedical fields, and cancer detection is one such promising application. Sensor diagnosis currently has many limitations, such as being expensive, highly invasive, and time-consuming. New developments are welcomed to overcome these limitations. Optical resonators have high sensitivity, which enable medical testing to detect disease in the early stage. Herein, we describe the principle of whispering-gallery mode and ring optical resonators. We also add to the knowledge of cancer biomarker diagnosis, where we discuss the application of optical resonators for specific biomarkers. Lastly, we discuss advancements in optical resonators for detecting cancer in terms of their ability to detect small amounts of cancer biomarkers.

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Whispering-Gallery Mode Resonators for Detecting Cancer

Pongruengkiat

Pechprasarn

2017

“…High-quality whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical resonators have emerged as a promising platform for compact and ultrahigh sensitive sensing over the past two decades [1][2][3], which have been studied theoretically and experimentally in various sensing applications, including solution and gas sensors, thermal sensors, humidity sensors, magnetometers [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Advantageously, WGM resonators can also detect, at a single particle level, nanoparticle, bio-molecule, and even atomic ions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Based on WGM resonators, the sensing is typically realized by measuring the spectral changes in high resolution using a tunable laser or an optical spectrometer [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Parameter Sensing in a Multimode Self-Interference Micro-Ring Resonator by Machine Learning

Dong

Zou

Ren

et al. 2020

A universal multi-parameter sensing scheme based on a self-interference micro-ring resonator (SIMRR) is proposed. Benefit from the special intensity sensing mechanism, the SIMRR allows multimode sensing in a wide range of wavelengths but immune from frequency noise. To process the multiple mode spectra that are dependent on multiple parameters, we adopt the machine learning algorithm instead of massive asymptotic solutions of resonators. Employing the proposed multi-mode sensing approach, a two-parameter SIMRR sensor is designed. Assuming that two gases have different wavelength dependence of refractive indices, the feasibility and effectiveness of the two-parameter sensing strategy are verified numerically. Moreover, the dependence of parameter estimation accuracy on the laser intensity noises is also investigated. The numerical results indicate that our scheme of multi-parameter sensing in a multimode SIMRR holds great potential for practical high-sensitive sensing platforms compared with the single-mode sensing based on whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators.

“…Optical resonator-based biosensors are actively investigated to achieve a highly sensitive detection down to single bio-molecule interactions without labeling [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Optical resonators are inherently sensitive to the changes in the surrounding environment due to their strong light confinement capability and resonance characteristic [ 23 ]. With the recent development in microfluidic platforms and microfabrication technologies, optical resonator-based biosensors are further miniaturized [ 24 ] and regarded as a promising point-of-care (POC) device platform for the early and highly accurate detection of diseases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Label-Free Optical Resonator-Based Biosensors

Rho

Breaux

Kim

2020

The demand for biosensor technology has grown drastically over the last few decades, mainly in disease diagnosis, drug development, and environmental health and safety. Optical resonator-based biosensors have been widely exploited to achieve highly sensitive, rapid, and label-free detection of biological analytes. The advancements in microfluidic and micro/nanofabrication technologies allow them to be miniaturized and simultaneously detect various analytes in a small sample volume. By virtue of these advantages and advancements, the optical resonator-based biosensor is considered a promising platform not only for general medical diagnostics but also for point-of-care applications. This review aims to provide an overview of recent progresses in label-free optical resonator-based biosensors published mostly over the last 5 years. We categorized them into Fabry-Perot interferometer-based and whispering gallery mode-based biosensors. The principles behind each biosensor are concisely introduced, and recent progresses in configurations, materials, test setup, and light confinement methods are described. Finally, the current challenges and future research topics of the optical resonator-based biosensor are discussed.