High quality–factor all–dielectric metacavity for label–free biosensing

High sensitivity and high quality-factor are crucial for achieving outstanding sensing performance in photonic biosensors. However, strong optical field confinement and high light–biomolecule interactions on photonic surfaces are usually contradictory and challenging to satisfy simultaneously. Here, a distinctive configuration for addressing this issue is reported: embedding a nanophotonic metasurface inside a micro vertical cavity as a meta-channel (metacavity) biosensor. The analyte solution serves as the cavity medium, thereby maximizing the light–analyte interaction. Simulation validation is conducted to optimize the metacavity with high structural robustness and remarkable optical and sensing properties. Large-scale low-cost metacavity biosensors are realized by combining anodic aluminum oxide template technique and wafer bonding. Experimentally, the metacavity biosensor demonstrates a notable quality-factor (maximum 4140) and high bulk refractometric sensitivity (450 nm RIU−1), resulting in an unprecedented figure-of-merit (1670 RIU−1). Moreover, the metacavity biosensor achieves high surface sensitivity, together with a detection-limit of 119 viral copies mL−1 for label-free severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pseudovirus sensing, revealing remarkable performance in both bulk and surface sensing.

Uncontrolled Keywords

• biosensor
• high quality factor
• metasurface
• microcavity
• virus detection