Eurekalert June 7, 2018
The system developed by an international team of researchers (Switzerland, Australia) consists of an engineered surface covered with hundreds of tiny sensors (metapixels) each one resonating at a different frequency. Different vibrational frequencies are mapped to different areas on the surface which creates a pixelated map of light absorption that can be translated into a molecular bar code – all without using a spectrometer. They have used the system to detect polymers, pesticides and organic compounds. It is highly sensitive and generates bar codes even with broadband light sources and detectors. Applications include portable medical testing devices and in conjunction with artificial intelligence, it could be used to create and process a whole library of molecular bar codes for compounds ranging from protein and DNA to pesticides and polymers… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The authors show a pixelated sensor metasurface for molecular spectroscopy. Credit: EPFL