Planar diffractive device with matching diffraction spectrum

Abstract

A solution containing a target molecule and a reference molecule is illuminated to obtain Raman signals. An optical metasurface is used as a diffractive optical element to split the Raman signal from the target molecule and the Raman signal from the reference molecule. The target and reference Raman signals can be detected at different locations with different photodetectors, and the target molecule concentration in the solution is determined by comparing the target and reference Raman signals.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to diffraction devices. More particularly, it relates to a planar diffractive device with matching diffraction spectrum.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description of example embodiments, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a detecting device.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of a method to detect molecules.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a structure is described, the structure comprising: a diffractive optical element configured to diffract a first Raman signal from a target molecule to a first location and a second Raman signal from a reference molecule to a second location, wherein the first location is different from the second location; a first photodetector at the first location; and a second photodetector at the second location.

In a second aspect of the disclosure, a method is described, the method comprising: choosing a target molecule; choosing a reference molecule; and fabricating a diffractive optical element configured to diffract a first Raman signal from a target molecule to a first location and a second Raman signal from a reference molecule to a second location, wherein the first location is different from the second location.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Optical spectroscopy is an analytical technique widely used in determining the chemical composition of various compounds. Raman spectroscopy, in particular, is a very powerful technique to detect minute amounts of specific molecules dispersed in a solution or on a surface. Due to its high specificity, Raman spectroscopy can be employed as a non-invasive technique to detect the concentration of various chemical compounds in the human body, for example glucose. In some embodiments, a glucose sensor can be attached to a portable electronic device, like a smart watch.

In Raman sensing of glucose, a laser illuminates through the skin into the tissue and excites a Raman-scattered signal. This signal is collected and read out using a spectrometer. The concentration of glucose can be determined from the strength of the Raman signal. The strength of the signal can be either absolute, or relative to a different molecule.

There are a few challenges in building a portable Raman sensor for glucose. The Raman signal can be very weak and hard to detect, and thus a very sensitive detection method is advantageous. A highly compact and efficient dispersive device is also advantageous, in order to be incorporated in a portable device.

In the present disclosure, a planar diffractive optical device is described that is specifically designed to filter and diffract in a deterministic way, the spectrum associated with one or more chemical compounds of interest. The diffracted spectrum can then be read out using a photo detector, and the concentration of the molecule can then be determined. In other words, the sensing device is tuned to the specific spectrum that is to be detected, in order to maximize detection of the signal of interest relative to detection of other signals. For example, the device may be tuned to detect the signal from glucose detection instead of indiscriminately detect any signal regardless of the specific molecule being detected. By being tuned to a specific molecule, the device can detect weaker signals as it inherently detects the desired molecule better than other molecules. The device is based on one or more layers, or dielectric meta-surfaces, stacked on top of each other. The exact design of the meta-surfaces can be determined via methods such as convex optimization, adjoint state optimization, or genetic algorithms.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the devices of the present disclosure. The diffractive optical element (105) is built such that the Raman peaks of glucose are filtered and diffracted (110) towards one photodetector (120), while the Raman peaks of another molecule (e.g. hemoglobin) used as a reference (named reference molecule) are filtered and diffracted (115) towards another photodetector (125). The relative difference in the signal incident on the two detectors (120,125) can be monitored over time. If a reference molecule with constant concentration is chosen, then the relative signal detected on the two detectors (120,125) will give information about the concentration of glucose in the target solution.

The device of FIG. 1 can be considered a metasurface filter designed specifically to filter and diffract spectral peaks associated with a specific molecule (glucose Raman lines for example). The spectral lines associated with the target molecule (glucose) are incident on one photodetector, while the spectral lines associated with a reference molecule (hemoglobin for example) are incident on another photodetector. The relative difference in signal on the two photodetectors can be used to determine the absolute concentration of the target molecule. A similar setup could be used to detect other molecules instead of glucose, and different molecules could be used as the reference molecule.

One advantage of the technique described herein is that the entire Raman spectrum of the target molecule, e.g. glucose, is sent to one photodetector thus improving the signal to noise ratio. The relative monitoring of the Raman signal of the target molecule (e.g. glucose) compared to another reference molecule is advantageous because the glucose concentration can be monitored even if the absolute Raman signal varies significantly over time.

In some embodiments, the filter that separates the Raman signal of the target and reference molecules can be composed of several stacked metasurfaces designed to filter and disperse the wavelengths associated with the Raman spectrum of specific molecules (glucose for example). Optical metasurfaces are optical components where the amplitude and phase of the transmitted light at different wavelengths is controlled by design. The filter can be designed using techniques such as convex optimization, adjoint state optimization, or genetic algorithm, as it has been done for on-chip photonic devices.

As visible in FIG. 1, a light source may be used to illuminate a sample (102), for example a container holding a solution with the target molecules and reference molecules, with the resulting Raman signal (103) incident on a diffractive optical element (105).

The method of the present disclosure can be summarized in the flowchart of FIG. 2: determine a target and reference molecule, for example glucose and hemogoblin (205); design the diffractive element to split the Raman signals of the reference and target molecules (210); detect the reference and target signals (215); determine the concentration of target molecules (220) based on the reference and target signals.

In some embodiments, the ratio of the concentrations for the target and reference molecules is determined from the ratio of the intensities detected on the photodetectors. The concentration of the reference molecule is known in advance in order to determine the concentration of the target molecule. The concentration of the target molecule can be determined from a calibration table compiled in advance using solutions with known concentrations.

In some embodiments, if the concentration of the reference molecule and the intensities at the two photodetectors are known, the fourth, unknown quantity, that is the concentration of the target molecule, can be immediately calculated if the signal at the photodetector has a linear dependence on the concentration. In other embodiments, the dependence is not linear, and therefore a lookup table can be used, with photodetector values calibrated with solutions having known concentrations. For example, the reference table contains information to determine the concentration of the target molecule knowing the concentration of the reference molecule and the ratio of the two detector intensities.

In some embodiments, the metasurfaces are composed of silicon nano-posts. For example, the metasurfaces comprise a substrate layer and an array of silicon nano-posts whose size and arrangement are determined based on the desired operational wavelength. Examples of metasurfaces can be found, for example, in Ref. [3]. Metasurfaces are planar structures that modify the polarization, phase and amplitude of transmitted or reflected light. For example, silicon posts of helliptical cross section, arranged in an hexagonal lattice with different orientation can be used. In other embodiments, other types of metasurfaces composed of nano-scale structures could be used.

A number of embodiments of the disclosure have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

The examples set forth above are provided to those of ordinary skill in the art as a complete disclosure and description of how to make and use the embodiments of the disclosure, and are not intended to limit the scope of what the inventor/inventors regard as their disclosure.

Modifications of the above-described modes for carrying out the methods and systems herein disclosed that are obvious to persons of skill in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims. All patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of skill of those skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains. All references cited in this disclosure are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference had been incorporated by reference in its entirety individually.

It is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to particular methods or systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. The term “plurality” includes two or more referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosure pertains.

The references in the present application, shown in the reference list below, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

• [1] Shao, J. W., M. M. Lin, Y. Q. Li, X. Li, J. X. Liu, J. P. Liang, and H. L. Yao, In Vivo Blood Glucose Quantification Using Raman Spectroscopy, Plos One, 2012. 7(10).
• [2] Piggott, A. Y., J. Lu, K. G. Lagoudakis, J. Petykiewicz, T. M. Babinec, and J. Vuckovic, Inverse design and demonstration of a compact and broadband on-chip wavelength demultiplexer, Nature Photonics, 2015. 9(6): p. 374.
• [3] Arbabi A., Horie Y., Bagheri M., Faraon A., Dieletric metasurfaces for complete control of phase and polarization with subwavelength spatial resolution and high transmission, Nature Nanotechnology—Letters, August 2015.

Claims

1. A method comprising: providing a sample containing target molecules and reference molecules, wherein the reference molecules are of a predetermined concentration in the sample;generating a Raman signal from the sample by illuminating the sample;providing a dielectric optical metasurface configured to diffract a Raman signal generated from said sample into a first Raman signal and a second Raman signal, the first Raman signal essentially consisting of first Raman peaks from the target molecules to a first location and a second Raman signal essentially consisting of second Raman peaks from the reference molecules to a second location, wherein the first location is different from the second location and both the first location and the second locations are on a same side of the dielectric optical metasurface opposite to a side facing the target and reference molecules; anddiffracting said Raman signal from the sample into said dielectric optical metasurface into the first Raman signal and the second Raman signal by directing the Raman signal from the sample into the dielectric optical metasurface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the target molecule is glucose.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reference molecule is hemoglobin.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring a relative difference of the first Raman signal and the second Raman signal over time and determining an absolute concentration of the target molecule based on the measuring.