Glucose Measurement by Affinity Sensor and Pulsed Measurements of Fluidic Resistances: Proof of Principle.

Affinity sensors for glucose are based on a different measuring principle than the commercially available amperometric needle type sensors: reversible affinity interaction of glucose with specific receptors is the primary recognition mechanism instead of an enzymatic glucose oxidation. A novel pulsed-flow micro-fluidic system was used to characterize first the viscosity of a sensitive liquid containing the glucose receptor Concanavalin A and dextran and in a second approach to characterize the geometry of a fluidic resistance. In the viscometric sensor, glucose of the sensitive liquid is equilibrated, while passing through a dialysis chamber, with the surrounding medium.

Further development of artificial pancreas: blocked by patents?

Patent activity in the field of medical device technology and especially in the area of artificial pancreas development has surged in recent years. According to the search presented in this article, the number of granted U.S.

Optical waveguide structure for an all-optical switch based on intersubband transitions in InGaAs/AlAsSb quantum wells.

A vertical slab waveguide design for an all-optical switch based on intersubband transitions in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown coupled double InGaAs/AlAsSb quantum well (QW) structures is presented. We propose a waveguide with two surrounding high refractive index InGaAsP guiding layers, which confine the optical mode in the low refractive index QW region and thus enable light guiding with low contrast InP cladding layers. We investigate the proposed concept by means of 1D simulations of several waveguide configurations.

InP-based compact photonic crystal directional coupler with large operation range.

We present the design, fabrication and measurement of photonic crystal directional couplers in the InP/InGaAsP/InP material system. A comprehensive analysis of the dependence of the coupling length and usable wavelength range on the diameter of the holes next to the waveguides is given. The possibility to trade-off coupling length against usable wavelength range is shown.

Realistic photonic bandgap structures for TM-polarized light for all-optical switching.

We investigate manufacturable photonic crystal (PhC) structures with a large photonic bandgap for TM-polarized light. Although such PhC structures have been the object of only a limited number of studies to date, they are of central importance for ultra fast all-optical switches relying on intersubband transitions in AlAsSb/InGaAs quantum wells, which support only TM polarization. In this paper, we numerically study substrate-type PhCs for which the two-dimensional approximation holds and three-dimensional photonic-crystal slabs, both with honeycomb lattice geometry.

Sharp trench waveguide bends in dual mode operation with ultra-small photonic crystals for suppressing radiation.

A sharp 90 degree bend in a dual mode trench waveguide is analyzed by means of the MMP method. Through evolutionary strategy optimization, different configurations with low reflection, low radiation, low mode conversion, and therefore high transmission for the dominant mode are obtained. Three different types of bends are analyzed and compared: mirror-based structures, resonator-based structures, and structures with a small photonic crystal in the bend area.

Energy-time entanglement preservation in plasmon-assisted light transmission.

We report on experimental evidence of the preservation of the energy-time entanglement of a pair of photons after a photon-plasmon-photon conversion. This preservation is observed in two different plasmon conversion experiments, namely, extraordinary optical transmission through subwavelength metallic hole arrays and long range surface plasmon propagation in metallic waveguides. Plasmons are shown to coherently exist at two different times separated by much more than their lifetimes.