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Advertisement Advertisement Nature Photonics * View all journals * Search * My Account Login * Explore content * About the journal * Publish with us Subscribe * Sign up for alerts * RSS feed 1. nature 2. nature photonics 3. letters 4. article * Letter * Published: 02 June 2022 Nanokelvin-resolution thermometry with a photonic microscale sensor at room temperature * Amin Reihani^1, * Edgar Meyhofer ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5719-6030^1 & * Pramod Reddy ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-6931^1,2 Nature Photonics volume 16, pages 422-427 (2022)Cite this article * 1407 Accesses * 1 Citations * 6 Altmetric * Metrics details Subjects * Imaging and sensing * Sensors and biosensors Abstract Ultrahigh-resolution thermometry is critical for future advances in bio-calorimetry^1,2, sensitive bolometry for sensing^3 and imaging^4, as well as for probing dissipation in a range of electronic^5, optoelectronic^6 and quantum devices^7. In spite of recent advances in the field^8,9,10,11, achieving high-resolution measurements from microscale devices at room temperature remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we present a band-edge microthermometer that achieves this goal by relying on the strong, temperature-dependent optical properties of GaAs at its absorption edge^12,13,14. Specifically, using a suspended asymmetric Fabry-Perot resonator and a wavelength-stabilized probe laser we demonstrate a thermoreflectance coefficient of >30 K^-1, enabling measurements with a thermometry noise floor of ~60 nK Hz^-1/2 and a temperature resolution of <100 nK in a bandwidth of 0.1 Hz. The advances presented here are expected to enable a broad range of studies and applications in calorimetry and bolometry where miniaturized high-resolution thermometers are required. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content Access options Access through your institution Access through your institution Change institution Buy or subscribe Subscribe to Nature+ Get immediate online access to the entire Nature family of 50+ journals $29.99 monthly Subscribe Subscribe to Journal Get full journal access for 1 year $99.00 only $8.25 per issue Subscribe All prices are NET prices. VAT will be added later in the checkout. Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout. Buy article Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube. $32.00 Buy All prices are NET prices. Additional access options: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions Fig. 1: Device structure and experimental setup. [41566_2022_1011_Fig1_HTML] Fig. 2: Thermoreflectance coefficient of the BET. [41566_2022_1011_Fig2_HTML] Fig. 3: Characterization of thermometry resolution. [41566_2022_1011_Fig3_HTML] Fig. 4: Noise floor of the BET. [41566_2022_1011_Fig4_HTM] Data availability Source data are provided with this paper. Code availability The custom scattering-matrix code used in this paper is available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. References 1. Hong, S. et al. Sub-nanowatt microfluidic single-cell calorimetry. Nat. Commun. 11, 2982 (2020). ADS Article Google Scholar 2. Hur, S., Mittapally, R., Yadlapalli, S., Reddy, P. & Meyhofer, E. Sub-nanowatt resolution direct calorimetry for probing real-time metabolic activity of individual C. elegans worms. Nat. Commun. 11, 2983 (2020). ADS Article Google Scholar 3. Lee, G.-H. et al. Graphene-based Josephson junction microwave bolometer. Nature 586, 42-46 (2020). ADS Article Google Scholar 4. Sengupta, K., Nagatsuma, T. & Mittleman, D. M. Terahertz integrated electronic and hybrid electronic-photonic systems. Nat. Electron. 1, 622-635 (2018). Article Google Scholar 5. Menges, F. et al. 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Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 043106 (2011). ADS Article Google Scholar Download references Acknowledgements We acknowledge support from DOE-BES through a grant from the Scanning Probe Microscopy Division under award No. DESC0004871 (Experiments and Analysis) and support from the Army Research Office under award No. W911NF-19-1-0279 (fabrication of devices). Author information Authors and Affiliations 1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Amin Reihani, Edgar Meyhofer & Pramod Reddy 2. Department of Materials Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Pramod Reddy Authors 1. Amin Reihani View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar 2. Edgar Meyhofer View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar 3. Pramod Reddy View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Contributions A.R., E.M. and P.R. conceived the work. A.R. fabricated the devices and performed the experiments and calculations under the supervision of E.M. and P.R. The manuscript was written by A.R., E.M. and P.R. Corresponding authors Correspondence to Edgar Meyhofer or Pramod Reddy. Ethics declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Peer review Peer review information Nature Photonics thanks Sheng Shen and the other, anonymous, reviewer (s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Additional information Publisher's note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Supplementary information Supplementary Information Supplementary Figs. 1-6 and Sections 1-8. Source data Source Data Fig. 2 Experimental and modelling data for Fig. 2a-d in an Excel sheet and Matlab codes for generating Fig. 2a-d from the data. Source Data Fig. 3 Experimental data for Fig. 3a-d in an Excel sheet and Matlab codes to generate the figures from the data. Source Data Fig. 4 Experimental data and estimated noise corresponding to Fig. 4a is provided in an Excel sheet along with Matlab code to generate Fig. 4a. Rights and permissions Reprints and Permissions About this article Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark Cite this article Reihani, A., Meyhofer, E. & Reddy, P. Nanokelvin-resolution thermometry with a photonic microscale sensor at room temperature. Nat. Photon. 16, 422-427 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41566-022-01011-0 Download citation * Received: 11 August 2021 * Accepted: 22 April 2022 * Published: 02 June 2022 * Issue Date: June 2022 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-01011-0 Share this article Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. 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