Silicon chip beams light through a liquid-core waveguide to detect one particle at a time

By guiding light through liquid-filled channels smaller than a human hair, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Brigham Young University have succeeded in building a silicon chip that can detect tiny particles one at a time. The research, published online this week in the journal Lab on a Chip, could revolutionize the fields of medical and environmental sampling by making analyses sensitive, portable, and fast.