Bio-molecular SEIRAS Sensor with Passive Molecule Trapping Functionality

We demonstrate a proof-of-concept design of a new type of nanophotonic molecular sensors with the functionality of trapping target biomolecules to the device regions of highly enhanced field intensity, and hence facilitating improvement of sensing performance. Our experimental results show that these devices are capable of effectively accumulating precipitated L-Proline after the analyte solution of various concentrations dries on the device surface. Specifically, our devices produce a few percentage reflection (absorption) change in response to picogram level amino acid proline. Our work demonstrates a new strategy for designing optical sensors for detecting and sensing trace amount of analyte such as molecules in solutions.