Wavelength shift in a whispering gallery microdisk due to bacterial sensing: a theoretical approach

Whispering gallery mode microcavities have recently been studied as a means to achieve real-time label-free detection of biological targets such as virus particles, specific DNA sequences, or proteins. Binding of a biomolecule to the surface of a microresonator will increase its path length, leading to a shift in the resonance frequency according to the reactive sensing principle. In this paper, we develop a theoretical expression that will link the reactive shift to the bacteria and microdisk parameters and help quantify the number of bacteria that bind to the surface of a 200μm-diameter silica microdisk.