Light-shrinking device enables detection of ultra-tiny substance

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, and the National Science Foundation)

Engineers at the University of California San Diego and the University of California Berkeley have created light-based technology that can detect biological substances with a molecular mass more than 100 times smaller than previously possible. The researchers used plasmons, which are small fluids of electronic waves that can move back and forth in metallic nanostructures. The research could lead to the development of ultra-sensitive devices that can quickly detect pathogens in human blood and considerably reduce the time needed for patients to get results from blood tests.