Semiconductive optoelectronic refractive index sensors with on-chip electrical readout

We propose an integrated optoelectronic platform based on paired semiconducting nanostructures, which features a photonic-electronic co-design where the semiconducting nanostructures serve dual purposes: enabling refractive index (RI)-sensitive optical resonance while facilitating efficient near-field optoelectronic conversion through photoconducting effect. Importantly, unlike conventional single-sensor designs, our on-chip approach implements multi-dimensional extraction through a response matrix for RI-resolved measurements. By maximizing the response matrix determinant and optoelectronic RI sensitivity, we achieve an RI detection limit of 1 × 10^-8 RIU/Hz^0.5. This calibration-free integrated platform demonstrates the potential of multi-output sensing systems and advances semiconductor nanostructure integration, establishing a new, to the best of our knowledge, paradigm for compact, high-performance RI sensing platforms.