On-chip topological THz biosensors

On-chip terahertz (THz) biosensors have enormous potential in advancing the development of integrable devices for real-time, label-free, and noninvasive detection of proteins, DNA, and cancerous tissue. However, high absorption of THz waves by water necessitates evanescent field-based biosensing. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Navaratna, Nikhil, Tan, Yi Ji, Kumar, Abhishek, Gupta, Manoj, Singh,Ranjan
Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171366
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:On-chip terahertz (THz) biosensors have enormous potential in advancing the development of integrable devices for real-time, label-free, and noninvasive detection of proteins, DNA, and cancerous tissue. However, high absorption of THz waves by water necessitates evanescent field-based biosensing. The conventional on-chip THz biosensors with small mode confinement volumes and scaling sensitivity to defects severely limit the interaction of analyte with the electromagnetic field. Here, we reveal a topological waveguide cavity system with topologically protected propagating interfacial modes, exhibiting evanescent waves with an out-of-plane field extent of 0.3 λ 0 , where λ 0 is the wavelength corresponding to the cavity resonance frequency. Our experiments involving biomolecule detection and leaf-hydration monitoring show that the near-field of high-Q topological cavity resonances accurately detects minute frequency shifts over extended periods, facilitating real-time sensing and monitoring of biological matter. Implementation of topologically protected evanescent fields in waveguide-cavity systems will enhance on-chip THz biosensing.