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Refractometric optical sensor based on tapered photonic crystal waveguide

G. S. KLIROS1,* , K. A. PAPAGEORGIOU1

Affiliation

  1. Department of Aeronautical Sciences, Division of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Hellenic Air-Force Academy, Dekeleia Attica GR-1010, Greece

Abstract

We report on the design of a refractometric optical sensor based on a tapered photonic crystal waveguide of air-holes with complete transverse-electric (TE) photonic band-gap (PBG). The plane-wave expansion (PWE) and finite-difference timedomain (FDTD) methods were employed in order to design the device and investigate its transmission spectra and sensitivity characteristics. The shift in the mode-cutoff wavelength due to change in the refractive index of fluids infiltrated the air-holes, is found to be approximately linear and hence extremely suitable for sensing applications. The use of a tapered photonic crystal reduces the coupling losses between the ridge-access waveguides and the photonic crystal so that a wide range of wavelengths before cutoff, are transmitted through the structure with only a very limited loss. Since it is silicon-based, the sensor can be easily implemented to design ultracompact all optical integrated circuits..

Keywords

Integrated optics, Photonic crystals sensors, Tapered waveguides, Photonic band-gap, PWE method, FDTD method.

Submitted at: June 16, 2010
Accepted at: July 14, 2010

Citation

G. S. KLIROS, K. A. PAPAGEORGIOU, Refractometric optical sensor based on tapered photonic crystal waveguide, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 12, Iss. 7, pp. 1530-1533 (2010)