Title
Refractive Index Sensing Using a Three-Port Interferometer and Comparison with Ring Resonators
Author
van Gulik, R.J.J.
de Boer, B.M.
Harmsma, P.J.
Publication year
2017
Abstract
In this paper, we compare ring resonator and three-port Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) devices fabricated on silicon-on-insulator for the purpose of refractive index sensing. Their respective sensitivities and limits of detection (LOD) were determined with NaCl solutions. A sensitivity of 113.07 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and LOD of 2.47e-6 RIU was reached for the ring resonators. The most sensitive three-port MZI has a sensitivity of 13051 rad/RIU, and an LOD of 2.76e-8 RIU is shown to be attainable. A three-port MZI combines several advantages of both ring resonators and normal MZI devices, including a constant and scalable sensitivity, high-bandwidth readout, no directional ambiguity, and a simple interrogation setup. Such a device is promising for applications such as pressure, gas, and biosensing.
Subject
Nano Technology
OPT - Optics
TS - Technical Sciences
High Tech Systems & Materials
Electronics
Industrial Innovation
Ring resonator
Three-port Mach-Zehnder interferometer
Biosensors
Interferometers
Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Optical resonators
Photonics
Resonators
Silicon on insulator technology
High bandwidth
Integrated photonics
Limits of detection
NaCl solution
Refractive index sensing
Refractive index units
Refractive index
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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8dddf0ab-999a-4547-93ea-eef68a3d0c20
TNO identifier
574262
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISSN
1077-260X
Source
IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 23 (2)
Article number
7548369
Document type
article