Epidermal photonic systems and methods

The invention provides systems and methods for tissue-mounted photonics. Devices of some embodiments implement photonic sensing and actuation in flexible and/stretchable device architectures compatible with achieving long term, mechanically robust conformal integration with a range of tissue classes, including in vivo biometric sensing for internal and external tissues. Tissue-mounted photonic systems of some embodiments include colorimetric, fluorometric and/or spectroscopic photonics sensors provided in pixelated array formats on soft, elastomeric substrates to achieve spatially and/or or temporally resolved sensing of tissue and/or environmental properties, while minimize adverse physical effects to the tissue. Tissue-mounted photonic systems of some embodiments enable flexible passive or active optical sensing modalities, including sensing compatible with optical readout using a mobile electronic devices such as a mobile phone or tablet computer.