Amazing stuff! Notice it is in whispering-gallery mode! 😊
"Scientists have created the first microlasers capable of detecting individual molecules and even single atomic ions, a breakthrough that could significantly advance early disease diagnosis and molecular-scale medical testing. ... The paper opens up new possibilities for microlaser biosensing technology, including "lab-on-a-chip" technology capable of instant medical testing and diagnosis. ..."
From the abstract:
"Whispering-gallery-mode microlasers have emerged as powerful tools for label-free biosensing, yet their sensitivity has been limited to detecting nanoparticles larger than 10 nm.
Here we demonstrate a plasmon-enhanced whispering-gallery-mode microlaser capable of detecting single atomic ions in solution, achieving unprecedented sensitivity.
By integrating gold nanorods onto ytterbium-doped silica microspheres, we reduce the effective mode volume by approximately 1,000-fold and enhance the local electromagnetic field, amplifying the signal-to-noise ratio. The self-heterodyne detection of beatnote frequency shifts between split lasing modes enables the real-time monitoring of transient and permanent interactions of zinc (Zn2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) ions with nanorod sensing sites.
We report peak sensitivities with beatnote shifts of 3.7 fm for Zn2+ and 7.2 fm for Cd2+, showcasing the potential of plasmon-enhanced whispering-gallery-mode microlasers for single-molecule and atomic-scale sensing applications, including in vivo probing."
Fig. 1: Experimental setup and microlaser mode splitting.
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