Two-dimensional Polymer and Thin-Film Semiconductor-based Photonic Crystals for Biosensing Applications

Abstract

Detecting biomolecules at very low concentrations is of a significant importance for a wide variety of applications ranging from human health to national security. A diverse class of sensing platforms inspiration, and continuous guidance have been invaluable for my Master"s thesis work. I will never forget his selfless support that has always made me appreciate having him as my mentor. I also wish to thank my committee members, Dr. Yuxin Liu and Dr. Lawrence Hornak, whose support, helpful advice, excellent teaching, and lots of amazing new ideas have been very critical to my work. Dr. Lloyd Carroll"s advice and help with the polymer nano-molding along with Dr. Yuxin Liu"s extensive experience in microfluidics deserve my special appreciation as well. They both dedicated many hours to teach me and opened their labs for my experiments and for that I am very thankful. I am also thankful to Dr. Cerasela-Zoica Dinu and Dr. Letha Sooter for their help to explain the Biologybackground that I needed for this work. I would also like to thank Dr. Dimitris Korakakis for his support and guidance during my undergraduate research experience. Moreover, I would like to thank Dr. Kolin Brown, Dr. Weiqiang Ding, Mr. Harley Hart, the SRF staff, and Dr. Xian Cao for their great help with cleanroom-based microand nano-scale fabrication both as an undergraduate and a graduate student. My gratitude extends to the current graduate students. In particular, I would like to thank Anand