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arXiv · 2602.18704

Liquid photonic-molecule microlasers for ultrasensitive biosensing

Yan Wang·Yu-Hao Hu·Jin-Lei Wu·Rui Duan·Ya-Feng Jiao·Hai-Yan Wang·Li-Ying Jiang·Le-Man Kuang·Han-Dong Sun·Hui Jing
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Abstract

Droplet microlasers, as promising tools for biophotonics and biomedical sciences, have witnessed rapid advances due to their flexible reconfigurability, high sensitivity to stimuli, and label-free biosensing ability. However, designing these biosensors with simultaneously critical properties of low lasing threshold, high spectral purity, and ultimate sensitivity remains challenging. Here, we propose a versatile strategy to build liquid photonic molecules (LPMs) that combine all these features in a single device. We find that through tailoring the spectral Vernier overlap in size-mismatched droplets, this device enables single-mode lasing with a low threshold of ~610 nJ mm-2. The LPM lasers are engineered for dynamic tunability using a molecular isomerization strategy, which induces spectral mode hopping and thus yields a nearly ten-fold enhancement in spectral sensitivity over single droplets. Moreover, by leveraging the self-referenced intensity response of the LPM lasing modes, we demonstrate a three-orders-of-magnitude enhancement in biomolecular sensing, with a detection limit of 30 aM and a dynamic range spanning nine orders of magnitude. Our work offers exciting prospects for bio-integrated liquid sensors in diverse applications.

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BibTeXRIS

Yan Wang, Yu-Hao Hu, Jin-Lei Wu, Rui Duan, Ya-Feng Jiao, Hai-Yan Wang, Li-Ying Jiang, Le-Man Kuang, Han-Dong Sun, Hui Jing. 2026-02-21. Liquid photonic-molecule microlasers for ultrasensitive biosensing. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69840-z

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