We present nanoscale photonic crystal sensor arrays (NPhCSAs) on monolithic substrates. The NPhCSAs can be used as an opto-fluidic architecture for performing highly parallel, label-free detection of biochemical interactions in aqueous environments. The architecture consists of arrays of lattice-shifted resonant cavities side-coupled to a single PhC waveguide. Each resonant cavity has slightly different cavity spacing and is shown to independently shift its resonant peak (a single and narrow drop) in response to the changes in refractive index. The extinction ratio of well-defined single drop exceeds 20 dB. With three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) technique, we demonstrate that the refractive index sensitivity of 115.60 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) is achieved and a refractive index detection limit is approximately of 8.65$\times$10⁻⁵ for this device. In addition, the sensitivity can be adjusted from 84.39 nm/RIU to 161.25 nm/RIU by changing the number of functionalized holes.

Programmable vanadium dioxide (VO₂) metasurface is proposed at THz frequencies. The insulating and metallic states of VO₂ can be switched via external electrical stimulation, resulting in the dynamical modulation of electromagnetic response. The voltages of different columns of the metasurface can be controlled by the field-programmable gate array, and thus the phase gradients are realized for THz beam steering. In 1-bit coding, we design periodic and nonperiodic 24 × 24 coding sequences, and achieve wide-angle beam scanning with the deflection angles from −60° to +60°. In 2-bit coding, we use two different meta-atoms to design 18 × 18 coding sequences. Compared with 1-bit coding, 2-bit coding has more degree of freedom to control the optical phase, and 3 dB diffraction efficiency is improved by generating a single deflection angle. The proposed programmable metasurfaces provide a promising platform for manipulating electromagnetic wave in 6G wireless communication.

The ability to detect nanoscale objects is particular crucial for a wide range of applications, such as environmental protection, early-stage disease diagnosis and drug discovery. Photonic crystal nanobeam cavity (PCNC) sensors have attracted great attention due to high-quality factors and small-mode volumes (Q/V) and good on-chip integrability with optical waveguides/circuits. In this review, we focus on nanoscale optical sensing based on PCNC sensors, including ultrahigh figure of merit (FOM) sensing, single nanoparticle trapping, label-free molecule detection and an integrated sensor array for multiplexed sensing. We believe that the PCNC sensors featuring ultracompact footprint, high monolithic integration capability, fast response and ultrahigh sensitivity sensing ability, etc., will provide a promising platform for further developing lab-on-a-chip devices for biosensing and other functionalities.

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) microcavities provide increasing opportunities for precision measurement due to their ultrahigh sensitivity, compact size, and fast response. However, the conventional WGM sensors rely on monitoring the changes of a single mode, and the abundant sensing information in WGM transmission spectra has not been fully utilized. Here, empowered by machine learning (ML), we propose and demonstrate an ergodic spectra sensing method in an optofluidic microcavity for high-precision pressure measurement. The developed ML method realizes the analysis of the full features of optical spectra. The prediction accuracy of 99.97% is obtained with the average error as low as 0.32 kPa in the pressure range of 100 kPa via the training and testing stages. We further achieve the real-time readout of arbitrary unknown pressure within the range of measurement, and a prediction accuracy of 99.51% is obtained. Moreover, we demonstrate that the ergodic spectra sensing accuracy is∼11.5%higher than that of simply extracting resonating modes’ wavelength. With the high sensitivity and prediction accuracy, this work opens up a new avenue for integrated intelligent optical sensing.

The ability to sense dynamic biochemical reactions and material processes is particularly crucial for a wide range of applications, such as early-stage disease diagnosis and biomedicine development. Optical microcavities-based label-free biosensors are renowned for ultrahigh sensitivities, and the detection limit has reached a single nanoparticle/molecule level. In particular, a microbubble resonator combined with an ultrahigh quality factor ( Q ) and inherent microfluidic channel is an intriguing platform for optical biosensing in an aqueous environment. In this work, an ultrahigh Q microbubble resonator-based sensor is used to characterize dynamic phase transition of a thermosensitive hydrogel. Experimentally, by monitoring resonance wavelength shift and linewidth broadening, we (for the first time to our knowledge) reveal that the refractive index is increased and light scattering is enhanced simultaneously during the hydrogel hydrophobic transition process. The platform demonstrated here paves the way to microfluidical biochemical dynamic detection and can be further adapted to investigating single-molecule kinetics.

We propose a novel multiplexed ultra-compact high-sensitivity one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PC) nanobeam cavity sensor array on a monolithic silicon chip, referred to as Parallel Integrated 1D PC Nanobeam Cavity Sensor Array (PI-1DPC-NCSA). The performance of the device is investigated numerically with three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) technique. The PI-1DPC-NCSA consists of multiple parallel-connected channels of integrated 1D PC nanobeam cavities/waveguides with gap separations. On each channel, by connecting two additional 1D PC nanobeam bandstop filters (1DPC-NBFs) to a 1D PC nanobeam cavity sensor (1DPC-NCS) in series, a transmission spectrum with a single targeted resonance is achieved for the purpose of multiplexed sensing applications. While the other spurious resonances are filtered out by the stop-band of 1DPC-NBF, multiple 1DPC-NCSs at different resonances can be connected in parallel without spectrum overlap. Furthermore, in order for all 1DPC-NCSs to be integrated into microarrays and to be interrogated simultaneously with a single input/output port, all channels are then connected in parallel by using a 1 × n taper-type equal power splitter and a n × 1 S-type power combiner in the input port and output port, respectively (n is the channel number). The concept model of PI-1DPC-NCSA is displayed with a 3-parallel-channel 1DPC-NCSs array containing series-connected 1DPC-NBFs. The bulk refractive index sensitivities as high as 112.6nm/RIU, 121.7nm/RIU, and 148.5nm/RIU are obtained (RIU = Refractive Index Unit). In particular, the footprint of the 3-parallel-channel PI-1DPC-NCSA is 4.5μm × 50μm (width × length), decreased by more than three orders of magnitude compared to 2D PC integrated sensor arrays. Thus, this is a promising platform for realizing ultra-compact lab-on-a-chip applications with high integration density and high parallel-multiplexing capabilities.