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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Attaching Biological Probes to Silica Optical Biosensors Using Silane Coupling Agents
Published on: May 1, 2012
Whispering-Gallery Mode Optoplasmonic Microcavities: From Advanced Single-Molecule Sensors and Microlasers to
Matthew C Houghton1,2, Samir Vartabi Kashanian1, Thomas L Derrien1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Exeter, Exeter Devon EX4 4QL, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Optical microcavities, specifically, whispering-gallery mode (WGM) microcavities, with their remarkable sensitivity to environmental changes, have been extensively employed as biosensors, enabling the detection of a wide range of biomolecules and nanoparticles. To push the limits of detection down to the most sensitive single-molecule level, plasmonic nanorods are strategically introduced to enhance the evanescent fields of WGM microcavities. This advancement of optoplasmonic WGM sensors allows for the detection of single molecules of a protein, conformational changes, and even atomic ions, marking significant contributions in single-molecule sensing. This Perspective discusses the exciting research prospects in optoplasmonic WGM sensing of single molecules, including the study of enzyme thermodynamics and kinetics, the emergence of thermo-optoplasmonic sensing, the ultrasensitive single-molecule sensing on WGM microlasers, and applications in synthetic biology.
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