{"id":175432,"date":"2016-08-11T14:47:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T18:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=175432"},"modified":"2016-08-16T12:55:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T16:55:34","slug":"optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A team of engineering researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Victoria has developed a way to detect single molecules with an optical technology that uses a spring force produced by light circulating in a miniaturized resonator.<\/p>\n<p>The new technology, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/ncomms\/2016\/160727\/ncomms12311\/full\/ncomms12311.html\">described in a study\u00a0 published in <em>Nature Communications<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, has many potential applications, including medical diagnostics, drug development, security screening, and environmental science.<\/p>\n<p>The circulating light produces a force that makes the miniaturized resonator vibrate in a periodic fashion. When a particle or biomolecule lands on such a vibrating resonator, the\u00a0so-called \u201coptical spring\u201d effect changes the vibration in a particular way\u00a0that significantly enhances the detection of particles and molecules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade,\u201d says coauthor Wei Jiang, a Rochester doctoral student in optics. The team also includes Qiang Lin, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rochester, and doctoral student Wenyan Lu and assistant professor Tao Lu at Victoria.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/photonlab.hajim.rochester.edu\/Home.html\">Learn more about the research in Qiang Lin&#8217;s lab<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The optical resonator used by the team \u2013 a whispering gallery micro-resonator &#8212; was inspired by the acoustic &#8220;whispering gallery\u201d effect first discovered in London&#8217;s iconic St. Paul&#8217;s Cathedral, where a voice whispered against one wall travels around the chamber\u2019s circular rim and is clearly audible over 40 meters away on the other side.. The team\u2019s micro-resonator \u2013 which uses light instead &#8212; is only about 100 microns in diameter, about the width of a human hair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to detect a single molecule or nanoparticle is essential for many applications,\u201d note Yu and Lu. \u201cTo date, many approaches have been used to observe single particles. Our discovery may allow scientists to detect particles as minuscule as a single atom, or a single base pair of DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sensing principle is so universal that it can be applied to many sensing applications beyond molecule sensing itself, such as inertial sensing, electromagnetic field sensing, gas sensing, etc., that we are going to explore in the near future,\u201d added Lin. \u201cWe proved the sensing principle in a whispering gallery resonator. The next step is to transfer our technology to a more practical and fully integrated chip-scale device platform that could be used in our daily lives in the future. This technological development will be well in line with AIM Photonics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aimphotonics.com\/\">American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics)<\/a><\/strong>, announced last year, will be headquartered in Rochester, and will bring the nation\u2019s leading talent from companies, universities, and federal research institutions together under one entity to develop the next generation of integrated photonics.<\/p>\n<p>The work represented in the paper is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_175452\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175452\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175452\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/optical-spring.jpg\" alt=\"This drawing illustrates the sensing mechanism used by researchers at the universities of Rochester and Victoria, in which an \u2018optical spring\u2019 effect enhances the detection of particles and molecules. \" width=\"560\" height=\"473\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-175452\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This drawing illustrates the sensing mechanism used by researchers at the universities of Rochester and Victoria, in which an \u2018optical spring\u2019 effect enhances the detection of particles and molecules.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Suzanne Ahearne (University of Victoria Communications + Marketing) at 250-721-6139 or <a href=\"mailto:sahearne@uvic.ca\">sahearne@uvic.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bob Marcotte (University of Rochester) at 585-273-5239 or <a href=\"mailto:bmarcotte@ur.rochester.edu\">bmarcotte@ur.rochester.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Using the spring force produced by light circulating in a miniaturized resonator, a team of engineering researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Victoria has discovered a new approach to detecting single particles. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":175552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[19382,18632,18652,18572],"class_list":["post-175432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-department-of-electrical-and-computer-engineering","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-institute-of-optics","tag-research-finding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":554,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\",\"Institute of Optics\",\"research finding\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science &amp; Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"description\":\"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Qiang Lin, at left, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and PhD student Wei Jiang, worked with researchers at the University of Victoria to show how the \\\"optical spring\\\" effect could enhance the detection of single particles and molecules. (University of Rochester \\\/ Bob Marcotte)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\",\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/bmarcotte\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules","description":"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules","og_description":"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Marcotte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Marcotte","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Marcotte","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"headline":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules","datePublished":"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/"},"wordCount":554,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg","keywords":["Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering","Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences","Institute of Optics","research finding"],"articleSection":["Science &amp; Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/","name":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-11T18:47:49+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-16T16:55:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"description":"\u201cThis is the first time the sensing capability of the optical spring force has been realized, although the optical spring effect has been known for more than a decade.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fea-Jiang-Lin.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Qiang Lin, at left, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and PhD student Wei Jiang, worked with researchers at the University of Victoria to show how the \"optical spring\" effect could enhance the detection of single particles and molecules. (University of Rochester \/ Bob Marcotte)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/optical-spring-in-a-vibrating-resonator-enables-detection-of-single-molecules\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Optical spring\u2019 enables detection of single molecules"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b","name":"Bob Marcotte","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/bmarcotte\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175432"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176002,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175432\/revisions\/176002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}