Metasurface sensors for healthcare applications

Electromagnetic sensors have received huge attention in the last few years, due to the rising demand of devices able to improve quality, performance and safety in different industrial sectors: both sensing and medical industries are outstanding examples. Despite reliable diagnostic technologies have been developed, some drawbacks are still present: bandwidth, large dimensions and limited response control. Metasurfaces, bi-dimensional engineered materials, represent an optimal solution to overcome such issues enhancing existing systems for an accurate diagnosis. Therefore, in this paper, metasurface-based sensors are proposed and realized by using new additive manufacturing processes. The structures are finally experimentally tested and verified in different medical diagnostic applications, namely: cancer stage recognition, glucose/sugar levels measurements and blood oxygen saturation detection. The high performances shown by such meta-sensors, in terms of selectivity and sensibility, pave a new way to realize advanced platforms for non-invasive, high quality and faster patient diagnosis.