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Mode-selective sensing using asymmetric waveguide junctions


Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Racz, GZ 
Bamiedakis, Nikolaos  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1981-1623
Penty, RV 

Abstract

Measuring a single analyte in a highly absorptive microfluidic channel has always been a challenge. Even with a highly selective sensing layer, other chemical species can affect the interrogation of the analyte. Matching the evanescent tail with the sensing layer thickness is difficult in case of evanescent field sensing. The tail typically extends beyond the sensing layer, introducing noise and spurious errors in the measurement, which scales up with analyte concentration. In this work therefore, we propose the use of a simple multimode evanescent waveguide sensor that eliminates such common spurious effects. The proposed mode-selective sensing system exploits the sensitivity differences between the different guided modes in detecting the effects of the outer medium in the sensor response. The operation of the sensor device relies on the use of an asymmetric waveguide junction, which enable efficient separation of waveguide modes and therefore detection of their differences in behaviour. The proposed device is shown through simulations to achieve very small estimation errors below 5%, even for very high absorption coefficients of the outer medium of up to 80 times larger than that of the sensing layer.

Description

Keywords

Planar optical waveguide, Multimode sensing, Mode duplex transmission, Asymmetric junction

Journal Title

Nonlinear Photonics, NP 2014

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0924-4247

Volume Title

233

Publisher

Elsevier
Sponsorship
This work is funded by EPSRC UK.