Photonic integrated circuits for Department of Defense-relevant chemical and biological sensing applications: state-of-the-art and future outlooks

Rohith Chandrasekar, Zachary J. Lapin, Andrew S. Nichols, Rebecca M. Braun, Augustus W. Fountain
2019 Optical Engineering: The Journal of SPIE  
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs), the optical counterpart of traditional electronic integrated circuits, are paving the way toward truly portable and highly accurate biochemical sensors for Department of Defense (DoD)-relevant applications. We introduce the fundamentals of PIC-based biochemical sensing and describe common PIC sensor architectures developed to-date for single-identification and spectroscopic sensor classes. We discuss DoD investments in PIC research and summarize current
more » ... enges. We also provide future research directions likely required to realize widespread application of PIC-based biochemical sensors. These research directions include materials research to optimize sensor components for multiplexed sensing; engineering improvements to enhance the practicality of PIC-based devices for field use; and the use of synthetic biology techniques to design new selective receptors for chemical and biological agents. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
doi:10.1117/1.oe.58.2.020901 fatcat:ioroggx72bg5bi7qqnczxoqzsi