Refractive index sensing by a silicon metasurface

The availability of smart materials represents a key enabling milestone for the realization of smart sensors. In this research field, optical sensing has gained a lot of attention in various applications ranging from basic physics to chemistry and biology. Here, we exploit the non-invasive nature of light to achieve an innovative sensor based on all-optical dielectric nano-resonators arranged in a periodic fashion. The proposed sensor can measure refractive index changes up to 10
^-6
.