Nanoantennas for visible and infrared radiation

Nanoantennas for visible and infrared radiation can strongly enhance the interaction of light with nanoscale matter by their ability to efficiently link propagating and spatially localized optical fields. This ability unlocks an enormous potential for applications ranging from nanoscale optical microscopy and spectroscopy over solar energy conversion, integrated optical nanocircuitry, opto-electronics and density-ofstates engineering to ultra-sensing as well as enhancement of optical nonlinearities. Here we review the current understanding of optical antennas based on the background of both well-developed radiowave antenna engineering and the emerging field of plasmonics. In particular, we address the plasmonic behavior that emerges due to the very high optical frequencies involved and the limitations in the choice of antenna materials and geometrical parameters imposed by nanofabrication. Finally, we give a brief account of the current status of the field and the major established and emerging lines of investigation in this vivid area of research.Comment: Review article with 76 pages, 21 figure

Open Photoacoustic Cell for Blood Sugar Measurement: Numerical Calculation of Frequency Response

A new approach for continuous and non-invasive monitoring of the glucose concentration in human epidermis has been suggested recently. This method is based on photoacoustic (PA) analysis of human interstitial fluid. The measurement can be performed in vitro and in vivo and, therefore, may form the basis for a non-invasive monitoring of the blood sugar level for diabetes patients. It requires a windowless PA cell with an additional opening that is pressed onto the human skin. Since signals are weak, advantage is taken of acoustic resonances of the cell. Recently, a numerical approach based on the Finite Element (FE) Method has been successfully used for the calculation of the frequency response function of closed PA cells. This method has now been adapted to obtain the frequency response of the open cell. Despite the fact that loss due to sound radiation at the opening is not included, fairly good accordance with measurement is achieved

Energy-Efficient PRBS Impedance Spectroscopy on a Digital Versatile Platform

partially_open6siThis research has been partially funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) through the program “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza” (2018-2022). The research has also received partial support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) and the Eranet FLAG ERA initiative within CONVERGENCE project (CUP B84I16000030005) through the IUNET Consortium.This paper presents the digital design of a versatile and low-power broadband impedance spectroscopy (IS) system based on pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) excitation. The PRBS technique allows fast, and low-power estimation of the impedance spectrum over a wide bandwidth with adequate accuracy, proving to be a good candidate for portable medical devices, especially. This paper covers the low-power design of the firmware algorithms and implements them on a versatile and reconfigurable digital platform that can be easily adjusted to the specific application. It will analyze the digital platform with the aim of reducing power consumption while maintaining adequate accuracy of the estimated spectrum. The paper studies two main algorithms (time-domain and frequency-domain) used for PRBS-based IS and implements both of them on the ultra-low-power GAP-8 digital platform. They are compared in terms of accuracy, measurement time, and power budget, while general design trade-offs are drawn out. The time-domain algorithm demonstrated the best accuracy while the frequency-domain one contributes more to save power and energy. However, analysis of the energy-per-error FOM revealed that the time-domain algorithm outperforms the frequency-domain algorithm offering better accuracy for the same energy consumption. Numerical methods and microprocessor resources are exploited to optimize the implementation of both algorithms achieving 27 ms in processing time, power consumption as low as 1.4 mW and a minimum energy consumption per measurement of 0.5 mJ, for a dense impedance spectrum estimation of 214 points.embargoed_20210525Luciani G.; Crescentini M.; Romani A.; Chiani M.; Benini L.; Tartagni M.Luciani G.; Crescentini M.; Romani A.; Chiani M.; Benini L.; Tartagni M

Novel analytical tools for studies in molecular assemblies : I. Electro-active single-mode integrated optical waveguides ; II. Coupled plasmon waveguide resonances.

Two optical analytical tools were developed for studying molecular assemblies at solid/liquid interfaces. Electro-active single-mode integrated optical waveguide (EA-SM-IOW) technology was developed as a platform for spectroelectrochemical investigations on redox adsorbates at the sub-monolayer level. With an optimized ultra-thin indium tin oxide film combined with a single-mode integrated optical waveguide, for the first time, a more than 14,000 times higher sensitivity (compared to conventional potential-modulated transmittance) was achieved. From optical signals, this technique was able to reconstruct electrochemical information of redox adsorbates, including the formal potential and the electron transfer rate. A few major advantages were achieved with the developed EA-SM-IOW technology. I) As low as 10−15 mol/cm2 electrochemically active surface coverage of redox species could be detected; II) A new analytical methodology was developed to combine optical impedance spectroscopy (OIS) with electrochemical impedance measurements to retrieve the electron transfer rate of redox process. This approach bypasses specific knowledge of every electrical element in the electrochemical flow cell; and III) The novel technique of OIS based on EA-SM-IOW platform was applied to examine the electron transfer processes of cytochrome c proteins under different environments that the surface densities were well below the limits of detection in conventional techniques. For molecular assemblies without a convenient absorbance band, a complementary analytical tool, coupled plasmon waveguide resonance (CPWR), was developed to detect surface binding events through changes in the real part of the refractive index and shown to be superior to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR), which has been considered as a gold standard technique. The advantages of CPWR included. I) When compared to SPR theoretically, the designed CPWR sensor was featured more than 30 times better resolution for the bulk solution changes and approximately 2 times superior for probing molecular surface adsorption; II) The smaller (and better) resolution of CPWR was demonstrated experimentally for the first time; and III) The CPWR was applied in an angle-multiplexed configuration to measure the fluorescence decay of a Ru-complex molecular assembly in the nano-second time scale. These two outstanding optical analytical tools provide unprecedented information and reach new detection limits that are expected to enable novel fundamental investigations and technological applications in molecular assemblies

Miniaturized Sensors for Detection of Ethanol in Water Based on Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy and Resonant Perturbation Method - A Comparative Study

The development of highly sensitive, portable and low-cost sensors for the evaluation of ethanol content in liquid is particularly important in several monitoring processes, from the food industry to the pharmaceutical industry. In this respect, we report the optimization of two sensing approaches based on electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and complementary double split ring resonators (CDSRRs) for the detection of ethanol in water. Miniaturized EIS sensors were realized with interdigitated electrodes, and the ethanol sensing was carried out in liquid solutions without any functionalization of the electrodes. Impedance fitting analysis, with an equivalent circuit over a frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 MHz, was performed to estimate the electric parameters, which allowed us to evaluate the amount of ethanol in water solutions. On the other hand, complementary double split ring resonators (CDSRRs) were optimized by adjusting the device geometry to achieve higher quality factors while operating at a low fundamental frequency despite the small size (useful for compact electronic packaging). Both sensors were found to be efficient for the detection of low amounts of ethanol in water, even in the presence of salts. In particular, EIS sensors proved to be effective in performing a broadband evaluation of ethanol concentration and are convenient when low cost is the priority. On the other end, the employment of split ring resonators allowed us to achieve a very low limit of detection of 0.2 v/v%, and provides specific advantages in the case of known environments where they can enable fast real-time single-frequency measurements

Impedance Spectroscopy

This book covers new advances in the field of impedance spectroscopy including fundamentals, methods and applications. It releases selected extended and peer reviewed scientific contributions from the International Workshop on Impedance Spectroscopy (IWIS 2017) focussing on detailed information about recent scientific research results in electrochemistry and battery research, bioimpedance measurement, sensors, system design, signal processing

A 177 ppm RMS Error-Integrated Interface for Time-Based Impedance Spectroscopy of Sensors

This paper presents an integrated circuit for time-based electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of sensors. The circuit exploits maximum-length sequences (MLS) in order to perform a broadband excitation of the sensors under test. Therefore, the measured time-domain EIS is obtained by cross-correlating the input with the output of the analog front end (AFE). Unlike the conventional digital approach, the cross-correlation operation is performed in the analog domain. This leads to a lower RMS error in the measured time-domain EIS since the signal processing is not affected by the quantization noise of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). It also relaxes the sampling frequency of the ADC leading, along with the lack of random access memory (RAM) usage, to a reduced circuit complexity. Theoretical concepts about the circuit’s design and operation are presented, with an emphasis on the thermal noise phenomenon. The simulated performances are shown by testing a sensor’s equivalent model composed of a 50 kΩ resistor in parallel with a 100 (Formula presented.) (Formula presented.) capacitor. A time-based EIS output of 255 points was obtained with a maximum tested frequency of 500 (Formula presented.) (Formula presented.) and a simulated RMS error of 0.0177% (or 177 ppm)

Nonlinear Dynamic Modeling, Simulation And Characterization Of The Mesoscale Neuron-electrode Interface

Extracellular neuroelectronic interfacing has important applications in the fields of neural prosthetics, biological computation and whole-cell biosensing for drug screening and toxin detection. While the field of neuroelectronic interfacing holds great promise, the recording of high-fidelity signals from extracellular devices has long suffered from the problem of low signal-to-noise ratios and changes in signal shapes due to the presence of highly dispersive dielectric medium in the neuron-microelectrode cleft. This has made it difficult to correlate the extracellularly recorded signals with the intracellular signals recorded using conventional patch-clamp electrophysiology. For bringing about an improvement in the signalto-noise ratio of the signals recorded on the extracellular microelectrodes and to explore strategies for engineering the neuron-electrode interface there exists a need to model, simulate and characterize the cell-sensor interface to better understand the mechanism of signal transduction across the interface. Efforts to date for modeling the neuron-electrode interface have primarily focused on the use of point or area contact linear equivalent circuit models for a description of the interface with an assumption of passive linearity for the dynamics of the interfacial medium in the cell-electrode cleft. In this dissertation, results are presented from a nonlinear dynamic characterization of the neuroelectronic junction based on Volterra-Wiener modeling which showed that the process of signal transduction at the interface may have nonlinear contributions from the interfacial medium. An optimization based study of linear equivalent circuit models for representing signals recorded at the neuron-electrode interface subsequently iv proved conclusively that the process of signal transduction across the interface is indeed nonlinear. Following this a theoretical framework for the extraction of the complex nonlinear material parameters of the interfacial medium like the dielectric permittivity, conductivity and diffusivity tensors based on dynamic nonlinear Volterra-Wiener modeling was developed. Within this framework, the use of Gaussian bandlimited white noise for nonlinear impedance spectroscopy was shown to offer considerable advantages over the use of sinusoidal inputs for nonlinear harmonic analysis currently employed in impedance characterization of nonlinear electrochemical systems. Signal transduction at the neuron-microelectrode interface is mediated by the interfacial medium confined to a thin cleft with thickness on the scale of 20-110 nm giving rise to Knudsen numbers (ratio of mean free path to characteristic system length) in the range of 0.015 and 0.003 for ionic electrodiffusion. At these Knudsen numbers, the continuum assumptions made in the use of Poisson-Nernst-Planck system of equations for modeling ionic electrodiffusion are not valid. Therefore, a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based multiphysics solver suitable for modeling ionic electrodiffusion at the mesoscale neuron-microelectrode interface was developed. Additionally, a molecular speed dependent relaxation time was proposed for use in the lattice Boltzmann equation. Such a relaxation time holds promise for enhancing the numerical stability of lattice Boltzmann algorithms as it helped recover a physically correct description of microscopic phenomena related to particle collisions governed by their local density on the lattice. Next, using this multiphysics solver simulations were carried out for the charge relaxation dynamics of an electrolytic nanocapacitor with the intention of ultimately employing it for a simulation of the capacitive coupling between the neuron and the v planar microelectrode on a microelectrode array (MEA). Simulations of the charge relaxation dynamics for a step potential applied at t = 0 to the capacitor electrodes were carried out for varying conditions of electric double layer (EDL) overlap, solvent viscosity, electrode spacing and ratio of cation to anion diffusivity. For a large EDL overlap, an anomalous plasma-like collective behavior of oscillating ions at a frequency much lower than the plasma frequency of the electrolyte was observed and as such it appears to be purely an effect of nanoscale confinement. Results from these simulations are then discussed in the context of the dynamics of the interfacial medium in the neuron-microelectrode cleft. In conclusion, a synergistic approach to engineering the neuron-microelectrode interface is outlined through a use of the nonlinear dynamic modeling, simulation and characterization tools developed as part of this dissertation research