Medical imaging boost from full-spectrum photodetector

This is the claim of researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, whose broadband photodetector is claimed to be at least 1,000 times thinner than the smallest commercially available photodetector device.

Graphene gives photodetector fuller spectrum of light sensing

Photodetectors convert information carried by light into an electrical signal and are used in technologies including gaming consoles, fibre optic communications, medical imaging and motion detectors.

According to RMIT, photodetectors are currently unable to sense more than one colour in the one device and have remained bigger and slower than other technologies that they integrate with.

The RMIT prototype device detects all types of light between deep ultraviolet to near infrared wavelengths, opening new opportunities to integrate electrical and optical components on the same chip.

The breakthrough technology opens the door for improved biomedical imaging, advancing early detection of health issues like cancer.

Study lead author, PhD researcher Vaishnavi Krishnamurthi, said in photodetection technologies, making a material thinner usually came at the expense of performance.