MISSION (Mid- Infrared Silicon Photonic Sensors for Healthcare and Environmental Monitoring)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC)
Abstract
Silicon Photonics, the technology of electronic-photonic circuits on silicon chips, is transforming communications technology, particularly data centre communications, and bringing photonics to mass markets, utilising technology in the wavelength range 1.2 micrometres - 1.6 micrometres. Our vision is to extend the technical capability of Silicon Photonics to Mid -Infrared (MIR) wavelengths (3-15 micrometres), to bring the benefits of low cost manufacturing, technology miniaturisation and integration to a plethora of new applications, transforming the daily lives of mass populations. To do this we propose to develop low-cost, high performance, silicon photonics chip-scale sensors operating in the MIR wavelength region. This will change the way that healthcare, and environmental monitoring are managed. The main appeal of the MIR is that it contains strong absorption fingerprints for multiple molecules and substances that enable sensitive and specific detection (e.g. CO2, CH4, H2S, alcohols, proteins, lipids, explosives etc.) and therefore MIR sensors can address challenges in healthcare (e.g. cancer, poisoning, infections), and environmental monitoring (trace gas analysis, climate induced changes, water pollution), as well as other applications such as industrial process control (emission of greenhouse gases), security (detection of explosives and drugs at airports and train stations), or food quality (oils, fruit storage), to name but a few. However, MIR devices are currently realised in bulk optics and integrated MIR photonics is in its infancy, and many MIR components and circuits have either not yet been developed or their performance is inferior to their visible/near-IR counterparts.
Research leaders from the Universities of Southampton, Sheffield and York, the University Hospital Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre will utilise their world leading expertise in photonics, electronics, sensing and packaging to unleash the full potential of integrated MIR photonics. We will realise low cost, mass manufacturable devices and circuits for biomedical and environmental sensing, and subsequently improve performance by on-chip integration with sources, detectors, microfluidic channels, and readout circuits and build demonstrators to highlight the versatility of the technology in important application areas.
We will initially focus on the following applications, which have been chosen by consulting end users of the technology (the NHS and our industrial partners): 1) Therapeutic drug monitoring (e.g. vancomycin, rifampicin and phenytoin); 2) Liquid biopsy (rapid cancer diagnostics from blood samples); 3) Ocean monitoring (CO2, CH4, N2O detection).
Research leaders from the Universities of Southampton, Sheffield and York, the University Hospital Southampton and the National Oceanography Centre will utilise their world leading expertise in photonics, electronics, sensing and packaging to unleash the full potential of integrated MIR photonics. We will realise low cost, mass manufacturable devices and circuits for biomedical and environmental sensing, and subsequently improve performance by on-chip integration with sources, detectors, microfluidic channels, and readout circuits and build demonstrators to highlight the versatility of the technology in important application areas.
We will initially focus on the following applications, which have been chosen by consulting end users of the technology (the NHS and our industrial partners): 1) Therapeutic drug monitoring (e.g. vancomycin, rifampicin and phenytoin); 2) Liquid biopsy (rapid cancer diagnostics from blood samples); 3) Ocean monitoring (CO2, CH4, N2O detection).
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Tromso (Collaboration)
- Nanoplus (Collaboration)
- CMD ltd (Project Partner)
- Gas Sensing Solutions (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- University of Glasgow (Project Partner)
- University of Surrey (Project Partner)
- Pyreos (Project Partner)
- Polytechnic University of Bari (Project Partner)
- Rockley Photonics Limited (UK) (Project Partner)
- University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway (Project Partner)
- Horiba UK Ltd (Project Partner)
- University of Malaga (Project Partner)
- University of Ulm (Project Partner)
- Southwest Sensors Ltd (Project Partner)
Publications
Rowe DJ
(2021)
The Effect of Haematocrit on Measurement of the Mid-Infrared Refractive Index of Plasma in Whole Blood.
in Biosensors
Kharratian S
(2022)
Metasurface-enhanced mid-infrared spectroscopy in the liquid phase.
in Chemical science
Qi Y
(2021)
Integrated Switching Circuit for Low-Noise Self-Referenced Mid-Infrared Absorption Sensing Using Silicon Waveguides
in IEEE Photonics Journal
Blair SFJ
(2023)
Photonic Characterisation of Indium Tin Oxide as a Function of Deposition Conditions.
in Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
Sánchez-Postigo A
(2021)
Suspended germanium waveguides with subwavelength-grating metamaterial cladding for the mid-infrared band.
in Optics express
Stirling CJ
(2022)
Mid-infrared silicon-on-insulator waveguides with single-mode propagation over an octave of frequency.
in Optics express
Stirling CJ
(2021)
Broadband 2 × 2 multimode interference coupler for mid-infrared wavelengths.
in Optics letters
Stirling C
(2024)
Sub-wavelength gratings in silicon photonic devices for mid-infrared spectroscopy and sensing
in Photonics and Nanostructures - Fundamentals and Applications
Georgiev GV
(2022)
Near-IR & Mid-IR Silicon Photonics Modulators.
in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Rutherford S
(2022)
Detection of paracetamol binding to albumin in blood serum using 2D-IR spectroscopy
in The Analyst
Rowe D
(2023)
Group IV Mid-Infrared Photonic Devices and Applications
Sánchez Postigo A
(2021)
Subwavelength-grating metamaterial integrated devices for the near- and mid-infrared wavelengths
Mashanovich G
(2022)
Group IV mid-infrared photonics for communications and sensing
Stirling C
(2023)
Mid-infrared waveguides for broadband single-moded guidance
Description | CORNERSTONE 2 |
Amount | £1,494,157 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/T019697/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 02/2023 |
Description | Silicon photonic thermal photodetectors for mid-infrared sensing |
Amount | £346,227 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/W020254/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2022 |
End | 10/2024 |
Title | New characterisation setup |
Description | We have built a new characterisation photonics setup for measurements of Si and Ge chips at longer wavelengths. This setup is versatile and enables easy inclusion of new sources and detectors. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The setup is available to researchers in Southampton and UK for the characterisation of integrated photonic circuits at various wavelengths. |
Title | Dataset for: The Effect of Haematocrit on Measurement of the Mid-Infrared Refractive Index of Plasma in Whole Blood |
Description | Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D1621 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11110417 This data is used in the article 'The effect of haematocrit on the mid-infrared refractive index of blood plasma,' published by Biosensors. The data contained in data.xlsx are those used to plot the figures in the article. Measurement data were collected by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy at the University of Southampton during December 2019. Full methodological details can be found in the article. The XY data for each figure are contained in separate worksheets within data.xlsx. Each dataset is labelled with its name and unit. For plots with several spectral traces with respect to wavenumber, each trace is sampled at identical wavenumbers so wavenumber is only listed once. Briefly, each figure shows: Figure 1: Absorbance spectra of (a) DI water, plasma and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20-70%, (b) plasma and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20-70% over a more limited frequency range (1370-1570 cm-1), and (c) absorbance at 1541 cm-1 with respect to haematocrit. Figure 2: Empirical effective penetration depth deff calculated from the measured absorbance and literature k values of water. The dashed trace at wavenumbers > 3700 cm^-1 show the region where deff has been calculated from a ratio where both quantities are approximately equal to zero so cannot be relied upon. Figure 3: Imaginary part of refractive index spectra k for water and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. Figure 4: Real part of refractive index spectra n for water and whole blood with haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. Figure 5: Error in (a) real and (c) imaginary parts of plasma refractive index due to haematocrit in the range 20 - 70%. (b) shows the maximum error in n, which occurs at 1560 cm^-1, with respect to haematocrit; (d) shows the corresponding behaviour for k, which occurs at 1541 cm^-1. The data may be reused under Creative Common Attribution v4.0. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
URL | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/451978/ |
Description | Collaboration with Nanoplus |
Organisation | Nanoplus |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Sensing experiments |
Collaborator Contribution | Fabrication of mid-IR lasers |
Impact | As this is a very recent collaboration there haven't been outputs yet |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | Collaboration with the University of Tromso |
Organisation | University of Tromso |
Country | Norway |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Fabrication of Si and Ge chips |
Collaborator Contribution | Expertise on gas sensing, spectroscopy, polymers for enrichment, usage of specialised setups, staff time |
Impact | not year available |
Start Year | 2021 |