Photonic devices bend and stretch for potential diagnostics

MIT Associate Professor Juejun Hu said that there is interest in the possibility of optical technologies that can stretch and bend, especially for applications such as skin-mounted monitoring devices that could directly sense optical signals. Such devices might simultaneously detect heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and even blood pressure.

The findings, which involve the use of chalcogenide, a specialised form of glass, are described in a paper by Hu and others at MIT, the University of Central Florida, and universities in China and France. The paper is slated for publication in Light: Science and Applications.

Photonic devices process light beams directly using systems of LEDs, lenses, and mirrors fabricated with the same kinds of processes used to manufacture electronic microchips. Using light beams rather than a flow of electrons can have advantages for many applications; if the original data is light-based, for example, optical processing avoids the need for a conversion process.