Key Points
- A global team of 53 experts from academia and industry has created new standardized guidelines for testing next-generation light sensors.
- The goal is to solve inconsistent testing methods that have slowed down progress in the field.
- These new sensors use emerging materials to create devices that are thin, flexible, cheap, and high-performance.
- The guidelines will help researchers and companies identify true breakthroughs and accelerate the adoption of these sensors in everyday applications.
A team of experts from all over the world has come together to create a new set of rules for testing the next generation of light sensors. These new sensors could lead to big innovations in healthcare, smart homes, farming, and manufacturing.
Professor Vincenzo Pecunia led this global effort, which resulted in a “Consensus Statement” published in the journal Nature Photonics. The paper lays out a single, clear way to test and compare these new light-sensing technologies. The hope is that these guidelines will help get these new sensors into real-world products faster, improving our quality of life and sustainability.
Light sensors, also known as photodetectors, convert light into electrical signals. They are a key part of countless smart devices and make up a global market worth over $30 billion.
These next-gen photodetectors use materials such as organic semiconductors and quantum dots, which could enable ultra-thin, flexible, and lightweight sensors. They also promise to be cheaper and better, opening the door to once-impossible applications.
The problem was that the technology was advancing so fast that researchers lacked a consistent way to measure and compare performance. “Inconsistent reporting and characterization practices have held the field back,” says Professor Pecunia. “Without standardized methods, it’s difficult to know which technologies truly represent breakthroughs.” He also noted that researchers often focused on making just one part of the sensor work perfectly, rather than considering the whole picture needed for a real-world product.
To fix this, Professor Pecunia assembled a team of 53 experts from 43 universities and 11 leading companies, including Panasonic and Thorlabs, from 16 different countries. Together, they created clear guidelines for evaluating key performance metrics like sensitivity, speed, and stability. The report also includes checklists and diagrams to help other scientists accurately repeat the tests.
“The vision of these guidelines is to help researchers and industry identify the true cutting edge as these technologies continue to develop, accelerating the translation of emerging photodetector technologies into everyday devices,” Pecunia explains.
