Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Apr 10;19(7):1715. doi: 10.3390/s19071715.
A range of nanophotonic sensors composed of different materials and device configurations have been developed over the past two decades. These sensors have achieved high performance in terms of sensitivity and detection limit. The size of onchip nanophotonic sensors is also small and they are regarded as a strong candidate to provide the next generation sensors for a range of applications including chemical and biosensing for point-of-care diagnostics. However, the apparatus used to perform measurements of nanophotonic sensor chips is bulky, expensive and requires experts to operate them. Thus, although integrated nanophotonic sensors have shown high performance and are compact themselves their practical applications are limited by the lack of a compact readout system required for their measurements. To achieve the aim of using nanophotonic sensors in daily life it is important to develop nanophotonic sensors which are not only themselves small, but their readout system is also portable, compact and easy to operate. Recognizing the need to develop compact readout systems for onchip nanophotonic sensors, different groups around the globe have started to put efforts in this direction. This review article discusses different works carried out to develop integrated nanophotonic sensors with compact readout systems, which are divided into two categories; onchip nanophotonic sensors with monolithically integrated readout and onchip nanophotonic sensors with separate but compact readout systems.
在过去的二十年中，已经开发出了一系列由不同材料和器件结构组成的纳米光子学传感器。这些传感器在灵敏度和检测极限方面都实现了高性能。片上纳米光子学传感器的尺寸也很小，被认为是下一代传感器的有力候选者，可用于包括化学和生物传感在内的一系列应用，用于即时诊断。然而，用于执行纳米光子学传感器芯片测量的仪器体积庞大、昂贵，并且需要专家来操作。因此，尽管集成纳米光子学传感器已经显示出了高性能，而且自身也很紧凑，但由于缺乏用于测量的紧凑读出系统，它们的实际应用受到了限制。为了实现将纳米光子学传感器应用于日常生活的目标，开发不仅自身小巧而且读出系统也便携、紧凑且易于操作的纳米光子学传感器非常重要。认识到需要为片上纳米光子学传感器开发紧凑的读出系统，全球不同的研究小组已经开始朝着这个方向努力。本文综述了为开发具有紧凑读出系统的集成纳米光子学传感器而开展的不同工作，这些工作分为两类：具有单片集成读出的片上纳米光子学传感器和具有独立但紧凑读出系统的片上纳米光子学传感器。
