Liquid Crystal Based Label-Free Optical Sensors forBiochemical Application

Biochemical sensors have important applications in biology,chemistry,and medicine.Nevertheless,many biochemical sensors are hampered by intricate techniques,cumbersome procedures,and the need for labeling.In the past two decades,it has been discovered that liquid crystals can be used to achieve the optical amplification of biological interactions.By modifying recognition molecules,a variety of label-free biochemical sensors can be created.Consequently,biochemical sensors based on the amplification of liquid crystals have become one of the most promising sensors.This paper describes in detail the optical sensing principle of liquid crystals,sensing devices,and optical detection technologies.Meanwhile,the latest research findings are elucidated.Finally,the challenges and future research directions are discussed.

Side Polished Fiber:A Versatile Platform for Compact Fiber Devices and Sensors

Side polished fiber(SPF)has a controllable average roughness and length of the side-polishing region,which becomes a versatile platform for integrating multiple materials to interact with the evanescent field to fabricate all-fiber devices and sensors.It has been widely used in couplers,filters,polarizers,optical attenuators,photodetectors,modulators,and sensors for temperature,humidity,strain,biological molecules,chemical gas,and vector magnetic monitoring.In this article,an overview of the development history,fabrication techniques,fiber types,transmission characteristics,and varied recent applications of SPFs are reviewed.Firstly,the fabrication techniques of SPFs are reviewed,including the V-groove assisted polishing technique and wheel polishing technique.Then,the different types of SPFs and their characteristics are discussed.Finally,various applications of SPFs are discussed and concluded theoretically and experimentally,including their principles and structures.When designing the device,the residual thickness and polishing lengths of the SPF need to be appropriately selected in order to obtain the best performance.Developing all-fiber devices and sensors is aimed at practical usability under harsh environments and allows to avoid the high coupling loss between optical fibers and on-chip integrated devices.

Sensitivity-enhanced surface plasmon resonance sensor utilizing a tungsten disulfide (WS_2) nanosheets overlayer

Tungsten disulfide(WS_2), as a representative layered transition metal dichalcogenide(TMDC) material, possesses important potential for applications in highly sensitive sensors. Here, a sensitivity-enhanced surface plasmon resonance(SPR) sensor with a metal film modified by an overlayer of WS_2 nanosheets is proposed and demonstrated. The SPR sensitivity is related to the thickness of the WS_2 overlayer, which can be tailored by coating a WS_2 ethanol suspension with different concentrations or by the number of times of repeated post-coating.Benefitting from its large surface area, high refractive index, and unique optoelectronic properties, the WS_2 nanosheet overlayer coated on the gold film significantly improves the sensing sensitivity. The highest sensitivity(up to 2459.3 nm∕RIU) in the experiment is achieved by coating the WS_2 suspension once. Compared to the case without a WS_2 overlayer, this result shows a sensitivity enhancement of 26.6%. The influence of the WS_2 nanosheet overlayer on the sensing performance improvement is analyzed and discussed. Moreover, the proposed WS_2 SPR sensor has a linear correlation coefficient of 99.76% in refractive index range of 1.333 to 1.360. Besides sensitivity enhancement, the WS_2 nanosheet overlayer is able to show additional advantages, such as protection of metal film from oxidation, tunability of the resonance wavelength region, biocompatibility, capability of vapor,and gas sensing.

Photonic cavity enhanced high-performance surface plasmon resonance biosensor

Herein we propose a novel strategy to enhance surface plasmon resonance(SPR)by introducing a photonic cavity into a total-internal-reflection architecture.The photonic cavity,which is comprised of a highly reflective photonic crystal(PC),defect layers,and a gold(Au)film,enables Fabry–Perot(FP)resonances in the defect layers and therefore narrows the SPR resonance width in the metallic surface as well as increases the electric field intensity and penetration depth in the evanescent region.The fabricated sensor exhibits a 5.7-fold increase in the figure of merit and a higher linear coefficient as compared with the conventional Au-SPR sensor.The demonstrated PC/FP cavity/metal structure presents a new design philosophy for SPR performance enhancement.

One-step plasmonic welding and photolithographic patterning of silver nanowire network by UV-programable surface atom diffusion

Silver nanowire(AgNW)based transparent electrode(TE)plays a pivotal role in optoelectronics where TE is generally required to have fine pattern and high performance.Despite the rapid technological advances in either welding or patterning of AgNWs,there are few studies that combine the two processes in a simple and practical manner.Here,aiming to fabricate high-performance patterned AgNW TE,we develop a simplified photolithography that enables both plasmonic nanowelding with low-level UV exposure(20 mW/cm^(2))and high-resolution micropatterning without photoresist and etching process by conjugating AgNW with diphenyliodonium nitrate(DPIN)and UV-curable cellulose.The cellulose as a binder can effectively enhance plasmonic heating,adhesion,and stability,while the photosensitive DPIN,capable of modulating surface atom diffusion,can boost the plasmonic welding at AgNW junction and induce patterning in AgNW network with Plateau-Rayleigh instability.The fabricated AgNW TE has high figure of merit of up to 1,000(3.7Ω/sq at 90%transmittance)and minimal pattern size down to 3µm,along with superior robustness.Finally,a flexible smart window with high performance is demonstrated using the patterned and welded AgNW TEs,verifying the applicability of the simplified photolithography technique to optoelectronic devices.

Self-assembled monolayer modulated Plateau-Rayleigh instability and enhanced chemical stability of silver nanowire for invisibly patterned,stable transparent electrodes

Patterned silver nanowire(AgNW)networks have been widely used as transparent electrodes in many optoelectrical devices.However,obvious patterning visibility and poor thermostability of AgNW are still limiting its practical application.Herein,we report self-assembled monolayer(SAM)modulated Plateau-Rayleigh instability(PRI)of AgNW,which allows invisible patterning and superior stability of the AgNW network.Two opposite effects of different SAMs on the PRI are identified:the alkanethiol SAMs activate surface atom diffusion while the mercaptobenzoheterocyclic(MBH)SAMs suppress the diffusion.The degradation temperature of the AgNWs can be therefore,for the first time,tuned in the range of 193-381℃,so that the AgNW network can be patterned via PRI with a tiny optical difference between the insulative and conductive regions,i.e.,patterning invisible.Besides,the MBH SAMs provide AgNW with excellent durability under thermal annealing and oxidation,which enhances the maximum heating temperature of the AgNW transparent heater by over 120℃.Beyond the micro-patterning,we consider that the developed SAM strategy can be extended to other metal nanowires for stability improvement and has huge potential in nanoengineering of one-dimensional metal materials.

Distance-controllable and direction-steerable opto-conveyor for targeting delivery

Opto-conveyors have attracted widespread interest in various fields because of their non-invasive and non-contact delivery of micro/nanoparticles.However,the flexible control of the delivery distance and the dynamic steering of the delivery direction,although very desirable in all-optical manipulation,have not yet been achieved by optoconveyors.Here,using a simple and cost-effective scheme of an elliptically focused laser beam obliquely irradiated on a substrate,a direction-steerable and distance-controllable opto-conveyor for the targeting delivery of microparticles is implemented.Theoretically,in the proposed scheme of the opto-conveyor,the transverse and longitudinal resultant forces of the optical gradient force and the optical scattering force result in the transverse confinement and the longitudinal transportation of microparticles,respectively.In this study,it is experimentally shown that the proposed opto-conveyor is capable of realizing the targeting delivery for microparticles.Additionally,the delivery distance of microparticles can be flexibly and precisely controlled by simply adjusting the irradiation time.By simply rotating the cylindrical lens,the proposed opto-conveyor is capable of steering the delivery direction flexibly within a large range of azimuthal angles,from-75°to 75°.This study also successfully demonstrated the real-time dynamic steering of the delivery direction from-45°to 45°with the dynamical rotation of the cylindrical lens.Owing to its simplicity,flexibility,and controllability,the proposed method is capable of creating new opportunities in bioassays as well as in drug delivery.

Highly sensitive vector magnetic fiber sensor based on hyperbolic metamaterials

Hyperbolic metamaterials(HMMs) are novel artificial materials that excite the surface plasmon resonance(SPR) because of their unique hyperbolic dispersion properties. Herein, to the best of our knowledge, we propose the first HMM-based fiber SPR(HMM-SPR) sensor for vector magnetic detection. By selecting the composite materials and structural parameters of the HMM dispersion management, HMM-SPR sensors can achieve a high refractive index sensitivity of 14.43 μm/RIU. Vector magnetic field detection was performed with the HMM-SPR sensor encapsulated with a magnetic fluid. Compared with other ferrofluidbased magnetic field fiber sensors, the proposed sensor shows pronounced advantages in intensity and direction sensitivity of 1.307 nm/Oe and 7.116 nm/°, respectively. The sensor design approach presented in this paper provides an excellent demonstration of HMM-SPR sensors in various applications.

Resonance-assisted light–control–light characteristics of SnS_2 on a microfiber knot resonator with fast response

An all-optical light–control–light functionality with the structure of a microfiber knot resonator (MKR) coated with tin disulfide (SnS_2) nanosheets is experimentally demonstrated. The evanescent light in the MKR [with a resonance Q of ～59,000 and an extinction ratio (ER) of ～26 dB] is exploited to enhance light–matter interaction by coating a two-dimensional material SnS_2 nanosheet onto it. Thanks to the enhanced light–matter interaction and the strong absorption property of SnS_2, the transmitted optical power can be tuned quasi-linearly with an external violet pump light power, where a transmitted optical power variation rate ΔT with respect to the violet light power of ～0.22 dB∕mW is obtained. In addition, the MKR structure possessing multiple resonances enables a direct experimental demonstration of the relationship between resonance properties (such as Q and ER), and the obtained ΔT variation rate with respect to the violet light power. It verifies experimentally that a higher resonance Q and a larger ER can lead to a higher ΔT variation rate. In terms of the operating speed, this device runs as fast as ～3.2 ms. This kind of all-optical light–control–light functional structure may find applications in future all-optical circuitry, handheld fiber sensors, etc.