CSSTag: Optical Nanoscale Radar and Particle Tracking for In-Body and Microfluidic Systems with Vibrating Graphene and Resonance Energy Transfer
This addresses limitations in detection capability, penetration depth, and setup complexity for monitoring cellular processes in in-body and microfluidic environments, representing a novel method rather than an incremental improvement.
The paper tackles the challenge of single particle tracking in nano-biological systems by proposing CSSTag, a nanoscale acousto-optic radar and microfluidic particle tracking system using vibrating graphene and resonance energy transfer, achieving high-speed tracking with a modulator of 10 μm × 10 μm × 10 μm dimension and SNR in the range -7 dB to 10 dB.
Single particle tracking systems monitor cellular processes with great accuracy in nano-biological systems. The emissions of the fluorescent molecules are detected with cameras or photodetectors. However, state-of-the-art imaging systems have challenges in the detection capability, collection and analysis of imaging data, penetration depth and complicated set-ups. In this article, a \textit{signaling based nanoscale acousto-optic radar and microfluidic particle tracking system} is proposed based on the theoretical design providing nanoscale optical modulator with vibrating F{ö}rster resonance energy transfer (VFRET) and vibrating CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) on graphene resonators. The modulator structure combines the significant advantages of graphene membranes having wideband resonance frequencies with QDs having broad absorption spectrum and tunable properties. The solution denoted by chirp spread spectrum (CSS) Tag (\textit{CSSTag}) utilizes classical radar target tracking approaches in nanoscale environments based on the capability to generate CSS sequences to identify different bio-particles. Numerical and Monte-Carlo simulations are realized showing the significant performance for multiple particle tracking (MPT) with a modulator of $10 \, μ$m $\times$ $10 \, μ$m $\times$ $10 \, μ$m dimension and several picograms of weight, signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the range $-7$ dB to $10$ dB and high speed tracking capability for microfluidic and in-body environments.