Nanowire lasers as intracellular probes

Wu, Xiaoqin; Chen, Qiushu; Xu, Peizhen; Chen, Yu‐Cheng; Wu, Biming; Coleman, Rhima M.; Tong, Limin; Fan, Xudong

doi:10.1039/c8nr00515j

Cited by 57 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…However, their operation is usually governed by spontaneous processes, which results in broad spectral features and limited signalto-noise ratio, thus restricting opportunities for spectral multiplexing and sensing. Lasers provide the ultimate spectral definition and background suppression, and their integration with cells has recently been demonstrated [8][9][10][11][12] . However, laser size and threshold remain problematic.…”

Section: Nanophotonic Objects Like Plasmonic Nanoparticles and Colloimentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-obstructive intracellular nanolasers

et al. 2018

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Molecular dyes, plasmonic nanoparticles and colloidal quantum dots are widely used in biomedical optics. Their operation is usually governed by spontaneous processes, which results in broad spectral features and limited signal-to-noise ratio, thus restricting opportunities for spectral multiplexing and sensing. Lasers provide the ultimate spectral definition and background suppression, and their integration with cells has recently been demonstrated. However, laser size and threshold remain problematic. Here, we report on the design, high-throughput fabrication and intracellular integration of semiconductor nanodisk lasers. By exploiting the large optical gain and high refractive index of GaInP/AlGaInP quantum wells, we obtain lasers with volumes 1000-fold smaller than the eukaryotic nucleus (Vlaser < 0.1 µm3), lasing thresholds 500-fold below the pulse energies typically used in two-photon microscopy (Eth ≈ 0.13 pJ), and excellent spectral stability (<50 pm wavelength shift). Multiplexed labeling with these lasers allows cell-tracking through micro-pores, thus providing a powerful tool to study cell migration and cancer invasion.

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Section: Nanophotonic Objects Like Plasmonic Nanoparticles and Colloimentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-obstructive intracellular nanolasers

et al. 2018

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“…For sensing applications, the ability to produce lasers inside living cells and use them as intracellular probes is unique . Recently, intracellular plasmonic nanolasers, semiconductor nanowires, and nanodisks have also applied for detecting cellular environmental changes and cell‐tagging. Likely, biocompatible and biodegradable materials are highly desired for these applications.…”

Section: Summary and Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microlasers Enabled by Soft‐Matter Technology

Wang

Sun

2019

Advanced Optical Materials

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Soft‐matter microlasers are an interesting part of soft‐matter photonics, which are based on liquids, liquid crystals, polymers, biological materials, and fabricated mainly by solution‐processing approaches. Soft‐matter microlasers comprehend a multitude of attractive features, including low‐cost, mechanical flexibility, wide range wavelength tunability and, in some cases, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. As such, they are recognized as versatile candidates for efficient light sources with enhanced performances and applications as ultrasensitive physical, chemical, and biological sensors. Here, the recent developments of soft‐matter microlasers are reviewed in time and the prospect in this field is provided. First, the characteristics of the representative soft‐matter microlasers are discussed with focus on their laser structures, lasing mechanisms, fabrication approaches, and gain material origins, followed by an introduction about the current cutting‐edge soft‐technologies that are applied in soft‐matter microlasers. Afterward, their potential applications as wavelength tunable sources, sensors, and displays are highlighted. Finally, the work is summarized and the prospect of soft‐matter microlasers for expanding this emerging research field is presented.

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“…Various types of optical microcavities have been developed, such as Fabry–Perot cavities, photonic crystals, and whispering‐gallery‐modes (WGMs), as implemented in ring resonators, micro‐/nanodisks, and microspheres . In particular, microsphere‐based WGM lasers are appealing candidates for sensing probes owing to their convenience, extremely high Q factor, and potential for application in intracellular and extracellular probes . Moreover, analytes can be positioned outside of the optical cavity, where an evanescent field exists at the external interface between the resonant cavity and surrounding medium .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lasing‐Encoded Microsensor Driven by Interfacial Cavity Resonance Energy Transfer

Yuan

Wang

Guan

et al. 2020

Advanced Optical Materials

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for use in biomedical and biological applications. [1][2][3][4][5] Various types of optical microcavities have been developed, such as Fabry-Perot cavities, [6][7][8] photonic crystals, [9] and whispering-gallery-modes (WGMs), as implemented in ring resonators, [10][11][12] micro-/nanodisks, [13,14] and microspheres. [3][4][5][15][16][17][18][19][20] In particular, microsphere-based WGM lasers are appealing candidates for sensing probes owing to their convenience, extremely high Q factor, and potential for application in intracellular and extracellular probes. [13,15,16,21,22] Moreover, analytes can be positioned outside of the optical cavity, where an evanescent field exists at the external interface between the resonant cavity and surrounding medium. [23][24][25] At present, most microsphere or droplet-based WGM lasers are considered to be passive-detection devices, as they require physical changes (e.g., refractive indexes) to induce a resonance spectral shift, and thus cannot provide detailed biochemical information. [26][27][28] In contrast, active-detection devices, which employ analytes as the gain medium, can provide more selective and sensitive information about the biospecies. [8,29] Therefore, the ability to utilize a biological gain medium on the external surface of a microsphere cavity will allow us to amplify subtle changes in the gain medium and the resultant spectra, threshold, and lasing modes. However, the overlap factor for the optical mode and gain medium is much lower than the value of the gain within the cavity, and the background fluorescence also interferes with the external cavity sensing, making this amplification a difficult task. Thus, to enable amplification of these subtle changes, we have applied the concept of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) at the interface of a droplet-based laser to separate the donor and acceptor at the droplet-surface interface (Figure 1a). FRET is an electrodynamic phenomenon that is highly sensitive to distance, spectral overlap, and the orientation between donor and acceptor molecules. In the past decade, FRET has been used as a powerful tool for providing nanoscale information in many biosensing applications. The performance of FRET is mainly dependent on the design of the donor and acceptor pairs. Several groups recently utilized FRET by using donor molecules as exciton funnels, [30,31] or light-harvesting antennas, [31] to realize a wavelength tunable laser, [30] single molecule nanoprobes, [32] or light redirectioning devices [33] that strongly amplify the emission of acceptor molecules when Microlasers are emerging tools for biomedical applications. In particular, whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microlasers are promising candidates for sensing at the biointerface owing to their high quality-factor and potential in molecular assays, and intracellular and extracellular detection. However, lasing particles with sensing functionality remain challenging since the overlap between the WGM optical mode and external gain medium is much lower compared to ...

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Nanowire lasers as intracellular probes

Cited by 57 publications

References 34 publications

Non-obstructive intracellular nanolasers

Non-obstructive intracellular nanolasers

Microlasers Enabled by Soft‐Matter Technology

Lasing‐Encoded Microsensor Driven by Interfacial Cavity Resonance Energy Transfer

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