Mass Detection of Single Viruses Based on Whispering Gallery Modes of Optomechanical Systems via Optical Pump–Probe Technique

Abstract

Whispering gallery modes (WGMs), due to their high quality factors, small mode volumes and simple fabrications, have potential applications especially in sensing. In this work, we theoretically propose a mass sensor based on a realistic cavity optomechanical system (such as in Weis et al., Science 330, 1520 [2010]) in the presence of a strong pump laser and a weak probe laser. The mass of external bioparticles (such as smallpox virus and influenza virus) landing onto WGM cavity can be detected accurately via the probe transmission spectrum. Furthermore, based on this scheme one can even determine a single virus mass via monitoring the half-linewidth of the probe transmission spectrum. Through detecting the virus mass, one may identify the kinds of different viruses.