CSSTag: Optical Nanoscale Radar and Particle Tracking for In-Body and Microfluidic Systems with Vibrating Graphene and Resonance Energy Transfer

TL;DR

This paper introduces CSSTag, a nanoscale optical radar system using vibrating graphene and resonance energy transfer for particle tracking in biological and microfluidic environments, overcoming current imaging limitations.

Contribution

It presents a novel nanoscale radar system based on vibrating graphene resonators and resonance energy transfer, enabling high-speed, multi-particle tracking in complex biological settings.

Findings

Demonstrates effective multiple particle tracking with high SNR.

Shows capability for high-speed tracking in microfluidic and in-body environments.

Validates performance through numerical and Monte Carlo simulations.

Abstract

Single particle tracking systems monitor cellular processes with great accuracy in nano-biological systems. The emissions of the fluorescent molecules are detected with cameras or photodetectors. However, state-of-the-art imaging systems have challenges in the detection capability, collection and analysis of imaging data, penetration depth and complicated set-ups. In this article, a \textit{signaling based nanoscale acousto-optic radar and microfluidic particle tracking system} is proposed based on the theoretical design providing nanoscale optical modulator with vibrating F{\"{o}}rster resonance energy transfer (VFRET) and vibrating CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) on graphene resonators. The modulator structure combines the significant advantages of graphene membranes having wideband resonance frequencies with QDs having broad absorption spectrum and tunable properties. The solution denoted by chirp spread spectrum (CSS) Tag (\textit{CSSTag}) utilizes classical radar target tracking approaches in nanoscale environments based on the capability to generate CSS sequences to identify different bio-particles. Numerical and Monte-Carlo simulations are realized showing the significant performance for multiple particle tracking (MPT) with a modulator of $10 \, \mu$m $\times$ $10 \, \mu$m $\times$ $10 \, \mu$m dimension and several picograms of weight, signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the range $-7$ dB to $10$ dB and high speed tracking capability for microfluidic and in-body environments.