Water Polution & Bio Sensor

On-chip Spectroscopy

Omega Optics is currently pursuing a research program on on-chip spectroscopy for pollution sensing in groundwater. The research will enable precise remote monitoring and identification of trace contaminants in air and drinking water, the two basic ingredients for life. The versatile technology will enable implementations in multiple areas of in-situ analyte sensing, detection and spectroscopy such as control of food, air and water quality and health. Defect engineered photonic crystals, with sub micron dimensions have already demonstrated high sensitivity to trace volumes of analytes; however exact identification of analyte through spectroscopic signatures has not been demonstrated. The research will lay a solid foundation for label free massively parallel detection and identification of analytes in lab-on-chip applications through spectroscopic signatures.

Bio-Sensing

Omega Optics is currently pursuing a research program on on-chip label-free biosensing for microarray applications. The program seeks to develop a portable, diagnostic device suitable for fast, highly parallel, label-free detection and specific identification of cancer, microbial contaminations and various infectious disease causing bacteria of interest to diverse US Federal Agencies. Defect engineered photonic crystals, with sub micron dimensions have already demonstrated high sensitivity to trace volumes of analyte; however multiple analyte sensing for microarray applications, although conceived in various nanophotonic architectures, has not been demonstrated in practice. Our proposed photonic crystal microarray will enable massively parallel, miniature, label-free sensing of multiple biomolecules on a CMOS chip on a high sensitivity photonic crystal platform with biomolecule functionality preserved in aqueous phase. Our device is an ideal platform for a personalized diagnostic device to analyze different kinds of biomolecular chemical and biological reactions on the same integrated platform with high throughput, thereby enabling rapid and specific diagnostics of bio-agents and infectious diseases.