Judith Su

Highlighted in OPN's #OpticsIn2025:

An imaging platform that combines photothermal #microscopy with an ultra-high-Q whispering gallery mode microtoroid resonator to achieve extreme sensitivity and high spatial resolution. https://bit.ly/45grqZM 💡 ⚛️ 🧪

Many thanks to the students and collaborators who contributed to this effort, and to our sponsors, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), for their support.

Happy to share that our team has been awarded U.S. Patent 12,474,272 for a lipid-bilayer functionalized optical resonator biosensor platform that enables ultrasensitive biomolecule detection. ppubs.uspto.gov/api/pdf/down...

Meet the new #OpticaFellows!

The Optica Board of Directors is pleased to announce that 121 members from 23 countries have been elected as Fellows for their outstanding contributions and service to Optica and the community.

Find the full class: https://bit.ly/4rgXHtn

Thank you!!

I am honored to have been elected as a Fellow of @optica.org I would like to express my gratitude for the support of my peers, my sponsors, and the diligent efforts of my talented group.

www.optica.org/get_involved...

OPN's December special issue is now live! 🥳

The issue includes the 30 optics and photonics studies selected for the 2025 Year in Optics and the 2025 photo contest winners!

Check it out online 👉 https://bit.ly/486vL2j

#light #quantum 💡 ⚛️ 🧪

This issue highlights 30 of the most exciting peer-reviewed optics papers from the past year. My thoughts on optics in 2026 and beyond were also included. Many thanks to my team and sponsors (NIH and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) for making this possible.

Optics & Photonics News - December 2025 This special issue of Optics & Photonics News highlights exciting peer-reviewed optics research that has emerged over the past year.

I’m honored that our work on label-free optical mapping of single 5-nm quantum dots made the front cover of Optics & Photonics News’ year-end issue: www.optica-opn.org/home/article...

I'm delighted to be giving another talk at Caltech on October 23. I look forward to sharing ideas and discussion of mutual research interests.

www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...

I look forward to meeting more people and exploring mutual research interests through discussions.

Informal Chemical Physics Seminar Fast, Ultrasensitive, Label-Free Molecular Detection with Light

I’m excited to give a talk at Caltech’s Chemical Physics Seminar on October 21, 2025, at 2:00 PM in Noyes 153! I’ll be discussing our recent and ongoing developments in label-free, ultra-sensitive optical sensing platforms using microtoroid resonators.

cce.caltech.edu/news-and-eve...

Single 5-nm quantum dot detection via microtoroid optical resonator photothermal microscopy - Light: Science & Applications We demonstrate ultra-sensitive photothermal microscopy with whispering gallery mode microtoroid resonators, detecting single 5 nm quantum dots with SNR > 104 and achieving a minimum heat dissipation detection of 0.75 pW, which is below that from single dye molecules.

Honored that our work on label-free optical mapping of single 5-nm quantum dots using our photothermal-based FLOWER platform was selected for inclusion in Optics & Photonics News’ Year in Optics 2025 issue.
Here is the link to the original paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m excited to be visiting Caltech in October! I’ll be giving a seminar on Thursday, October 2 at 4 pm in Gates Annex B122. I look forward to meeting people there and furthering mutual research interests through discussion.

www.caltech.edu/campus-life-...

Featured #OnTheCover of issue 72 of ChemComm!

"FLOWER: a frequency-locked optical whispering evanescent resonator for label-free molecular detection" by Yichi Zhang and @judithsu.bsky.social from @uarizona.bsky.social

Read the full Feature article here 👉 buff.ly/Eu7rbah

Challenge.gov Challenge.gov is the official government website supporting prize challenges and prize competitions that are sponsored by the US federal government. Here federal agencies provide prize awards to publi...

Thrilled to share that our team under the leadership of Prineha Narang (UCLA) has been selected as a Stage 1 Winner of the
NIH Quantum Sensing Technology Challenge.

Read the announcement here: www.challenge.gov?challenge=ni...

Glad to share our latest article which is part of Chem. Comm' 2025 Emerging Investigators collection. The article focuses on my past and current research and puts it in perspective. I appreciate all my lab members, collaborators, and sponsors who made this possible:

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Free-space-coupled, frequency-locked microtoroid sensor for part-per-trillion detection of mustard gas simulant Sulfur mustard remains a serious chemical warfare threat, but its extreme toxicity complicates sensor development. As a chemically and physically similar simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (2-CEES)...

Glad to share our latest work entitled: Free-space-coupled, frequency-locked microtoroid sensor for part-per-trillion detection of mustard gas simulant. I appreciate our collaborators (Brian Stoltz and Euan McLeod) and talented associates.

chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Panelists:
Gilberto Brambilla, Uni of Southampton, UK
Sergio Carbajo, UCLA, USA
Tanya Myers, Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA
Lukasz Sterczewski, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland
Judith Su, UArizona, USA (joining remotely)
John Williams, Boeing Research & Technology, USA

Moderators:
Amy Bauer, Ocean Insights, Germany
Aparajita Bandyopadhyay, IIT Delhi, India
Jennifer Choy, Uni of Wisconsin (Madison), USA (joining remotely)

I'm glad to participate in this moderated panel discussion this morning at the @optica.org Sensing Congress:
"Precision Versus Price-Point: Core Driver of the Sensing Domain"
When: Thursday, 24 July 08:00 - 09:30
Where: International I, II, Hilton Long Beach

It was an honor to present to Winnie Ye the Robert E. Hopkins Leadership Award at @optica.org's 2025 Integrated Photonics Research conference (IPR) 2025 in Marseille. Congratulations on this wonderful achievement! #AdvancedPhotonicsCongress

I discuss how optical frequency combs are opening up new frontiers in biosensing, diagnostics, and environmental monitoring and how interdisciplinary collaboration is key to translating this technology into real-world tools.
The article highlights our recent incubator meeting and roadmap efforts.

Frequency Combs for Chemistry, Biology and Medicine Judith Su explains how optical frequency combs can provide new insights into molecular diagnostics and disease mechanisms.

Happy to share my article in Optics & Photonics News:

www.optica-opn.org/home/article...

Thanks to Optica for the opportunity and to my amazing co-organizers (Prineha Narang and Bruce Hay) and colleagues!

www.msn.com/en-gb/health...

Thanks!

I look forward to learning more about the exposome and building a collaborative network to help accomplish this mission.

I'm optimistic that integrating state-of-the-art optical sensors and AI will revolutionize our ability to track key health biomarkers and environmental exposures, ultimately driving improvements in long-term health.

Next week, I'll be attending the Exposome Moonshot Forum (exposomemoonshot.org) in Washington, D.C. as a steering committee member, contributing to the development of the Human Exposome Project.