Nanolaser spectroscopy for studying novel biomaterials

Recent semiconductor technology has reduced the size of a laser to the size of a biological cell or even a virus particle. By integrating these ultra small lasers with biological systems, it is possible to create micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) devices that are rapidly finding new applications for chemical analysis, molecular detection, and health care.1-5 One is a nanolaser device that confines intense light into an extremely small interaction volume.6-10 The nanolaser has been integrated with a microfluidic chip and applied to assess novel biomaterials, cells, and organelles. Importantly, these biomaterials can be analyzed without time delays or difficulties associated with chemical fixing or fluorescent markers. With these advantages, nanolaser spectroscopy represents a powerful tool for the rapid analysis of bioparticles such as cells, organelles, vesicles, virions, and other bioparticles.