Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Photonic Breakthrough Allows 'Lab-on-a-Chip'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the smaller-and-cheaper dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Georgia Tech researchers have shrunk an optical device called wavelength demultiplier (WD) by combining into one crystal three unique properties of photonics crystals. This optical discovery opens the way to sophisticated and cheap bio-sensors mounted on 'lab-on-a-chip' devices -- sensors to run blood tests, detect chemicals in water supplies or for drug testing. Their new WD is less than a millimeter in all dimensions rather than the several centimeters of other currently available WDs. And it should not cost more to produce."

1 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Wavelength-accurate cameras by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Makes me wonder about using an array of them in a camera in order to record colour images in terms of their actual spectral content instead of approximating down to red, green and blue. Then just run them in reverse (I assume the optical demux can be used in reverse) to re-create the display.

    This would make a convincing display even for those with colour blindness or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromattetrachro matic vision.

    As an aside, it has been mentioned that humans with tetrachromatic vision can see through various types of man-made textiles ;-)

    Sadly, human tetrachromatic vision occurs only in females :-(