Waveguides sensitivities

The sensitivity in each of four cases is expressed as multiplication of device sensitivity and waveguide sensitivity... 

Fig. 8.26 Effective index variation is calculated as a function of the refractive index of top cladding. The result shows that slot microrings have higher waveguide sensitivity than conven tional microrings...

From the mode equation and equation (38), the waveguide sensitivity for both cover refractive index and the surface adlayer changes can be derived (three-layer planar waveguide). The derivation is given in detail in [7] and here only the results... 

A new one-dimensional mierowave imaging approaeh based on suecessive reeonstruetion of dielectrie interfaees is described. The reconstruction is obtained using the complex reflection coefficient data collected over some standard waveguide band. The problem is considered in terms of the optical path length to ensure better convergence of the iterative procedure. Then, the reverse coordinate transformation to the final profile is applied. The method is valid for highly contrasted discontinuous profiles and shows low sensitivity to the practical measurement error. Some numerical examples are presented. 

The most recently introduced optical teclmique is based on the retardation of light guided in an optical waveguide when biomolecules of a polarizability different from that of the solvent they displace are adsorbed at the waveguide surface (optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy, OWLS) [H]. It is even more sensitive than ellipsometry, and the mode... 

The reduction of dimensions also reduces volumes which are accessible to the detector. Thus, detection principles related to geometric dimensions of the detector cell ai e not ideally suited for coupling to microsystems, whereas surface sensitive principles, such as electrochemical methods or optical methods utilizing the evanescent field of a waveguide, or methods which can be focussed on a small amount of liquid, such as electrochemiluminescence (ECE), ai e better suited. This is why electrochemiluminescence detectors ai e combined to microsystems. Moreover ECE has found wide applications in biochemistry because of its high sensitivity, relatively simplicity and feasibility under mild conditions. 

Dasgupta PK, Genfa Z, Poruthoor SK, et al. 1998. High sensitivity gas sensors based on gas permeable liquid core waveguides and long-path absorbance detection. Submitted to Analytical Chemistry. 

A smart sensor chip was presented by Texas Instruments171. It includes an LED light source, a photodiode, a chemically sensitive waveguide and an inert reference waveguide. It is schematically shown in Figure 7. 

Recent advances in instrumentation range from novel (laser) sources and highly compact spectrometers over waveguide technology to sensitive detectors and detector arrays. This, in combination with the progress in electronics, computer technology and chemometrics, makes it possible to realise compact, robust vibrational spectroscopic sensor devices that are capable of reliable real-world operation. A point that also has to be taken into account, at least when aiming at commercialisation, is the price. Vibrational spectroscopic systems are usually more expensive than most other transducers. Hence, it depends very much on the application whether it makes sense to implement IR or Raman sensors or if less powerful but cheaper alternatives could be used. 

The majority of currently deployed IR sensors operate in the near-IR. Although near-IR sensors suffer from limited selectivity and sensitivity due to the relatively unstructured broadband absorptions in this frequency range, the easy availability of waveguides and other instrumentation give this spectral range a significant advantage over the mid-IR. Main application areas involve substance identification and process control. 

For sensing applications, high bending losses restrict the applicability as (flexible) light pipes. Practical applications are mostly restricted to gas cells, where the hollow waveguide acts as a compact multi-reflection cell to increase the sensitivity in comparison to single-pass cells. 

For trace analysis in fluids, some Raman sensors (try to) make use of the SERS effect to increase their sensitivity. While the basic sensor layout for SERS sensors is similar to non-enhanced Raman sensors, somehow the metal particles have to be added. Other than in the laboratory, where the necessary metal particles can be added as colloidal solution to the sample, for sensor applications the particles must be suitably immobilised. In most cases, this is achieved by depositing the metal particles onto the surfaces of the excitation waveguide or the interface window and covering them with a suitable protection layer. The additional layer is required as otherwise washout effects or chemical reactions between e.g. sulphur-compounds and the particles reduce the enhancement effect. Alternatively, it is also possible to disperse the metal particles in the layer material before coating and apply them in one step with the coating. Suitable protection or matrix materials for SERS substrates could be e.g. sol-gel layers or polymer coatings. In either... 

Heideman R.G., H. Kooyman R. P., Greve J., Performance of a highly sensitive optical waveguide Mach-Zehnder interferometer immunosensor, Sensors and Actuators B 1993 10 209-217. 

The absorption-based platforms described previously employed evanescent wave interrogation of a thin sensing layer coated onto a planar waveguide. A sensitivity enhancement strategy for optical absorption-based sensors based on planar, multimode waveguides was developed recently by us18. The objective was to apply this theory to the development of low-cost, robust and potentially mass-producible sensor platforms and the following section outlines the assumptions and predictions of this theoretical model. 

While planar optical sensors exist in various forms, the focus of this chapter has been on planar waveguide-based platforms that employ evanescent wave effects as the basis for sensing. The advantages of evanescent wave interrogation of thin film optical sensors have been discussed for both optical absorption and fluorescence-based sensors. These include the ability to increase device sensitivity without adversely affecting response time in the case of absorption-based platforms and the surface-specific excitation of fluorescence for optical biosensors, the latter being made possible by the tuneable nature of the evanescent field penetration depth. 

Veldhuis G.J., Parriaux O., Hoekstra H.J.W.M., Lambeck P.V., Sensitivity enhancement in evanescent optical waveguide sensors, J of Light. Tecnol. 2000 18 677-682. 

Sol-gel coating technique for optical chemical sensors and biosensors is now in extensive research phase. For example, the side-coating of optical fibers or waveguides in evanescent-wave sensors it is particularly important to control precisely the sensitivity determining parameters, such as the coating thickness and length45. 

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