Passively Q-switched ytterbium-doped fiber laser using the evanescent field interaction with bulk-like WTe_2 particles

The potential of bulk-like WTe2 particles for the realization of a passive Q-switch operating at the 1 μm wavelength was investigated. The WTe2 particles were prepared using a simple mechanical exfoliation method together with Scotch tape. By attaching bulk-like WTe2 particles, which remained on the top of the sticky surface of a small segment of the Scotch tape, to the flat side of a side-polished fiber, a saturable absorber（SA） was readily implemented. A strong saturable absorption was then readily obtained through an evanescent field interaction with the WTe2 particles. The modulation depth of the prepared SA was measured as ~2.18% at 1.03 μm. By incorporating the proposed SA into an all-fiberized ytterbium-doped fiber ring cavity, stable Qswitched pulses were readily achieved.

Polarization-Insensitive Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide Design for Evanescent Field Absorption Gas Sensor

We propose a polarization-insensitive design of a hybrid plasmonic waveguide(HPWG)optimized at the 3.392µm wavelength which corresponds to the absorption line of methane gas.The waveguide design is capable of providing high mode sensitivity(Smode)and evanescent field ratio(EFR)for both transverse electric(TE)and transverse magnetic(TM)hybrid modes.The modal analysis of the waveguide is performed via 2-dimension(2D)and 3-dimension(3D)finite element methods(FEMs).At optimized waveguide parameters,Smode and EFR of 0.94 and 0.704,can be obtained for the TE hybrid mode,respectively,whereas the TM hybrid mode can offer Smode and EFR of 0.86 and 0.67,respectively.The TE and TM hybrid modes power dissipation of~3 dB can be obtained for a 20-µm-long hybrid plasmonic waveguide at the 60%gas concentration.We believe that the highly sensitive waveguide scheme proposed in this work overcomes the limitation of the polarization controlled light and can be utilized in gas sensing applications.

Near-Field Spot for Localized Light-Excitation of a Single Fluorescent Molecule

Zero-mode waveguides have become important tools for the detection of single molecules.There are still,however,serious challenges because large molecules need to be packed into nano-holes.To circumvent this problem,we investigate and numerically simulate a novel planar sub-wavelength 3-dimension(3D)structure,which is named as near-field spot.It enables the detection of a single molecule in highly concentrated solutions.The near-field spot can produce evanescent waves at the dielectric/water interface,which exponentially decay as they travel away from the dielectric/water interface.These evanescent waves are keys for the detection of fluorescently tagged single molecules.A numerical simulation of the proposed device shows that the performance is comparable with a zero-mode waveguide.Additional degrees-of-freedom,however,can potentially supersede its performance.

Design and Optimization of Index-Guiding Photonic Crystal Fiber Gas Sensor

An index guiding photonic crystal fiber used in gas sensing applications is presented. The dependency of the confinement loss and relative sensitivity on the fiber parameters and wavelength is numerically investigated by using the full-vectorial finite element method （FEM）. The simulations showed that the gas sensing sensitivity increased with an increase in the core diameter and a decrease in the distance between centers of two adjacent holes. Increasing the hole size of two outer cladding rings, this structure simultaneously showed up to 10% improved sensitivity, and the confinement loss reached 6x 10-4 times less than that of the prior sensor at the wavelength of 1.5 μm. This proved the ability of this fiber used in gas and chemicals sensing applications.

Porous Silicon Based Bragg-Grating Resonator for Refractive Index Biosensor

In this work, we have evaluated the biosensing capability of the porous silicon （PSi） based sidewall Bragg-grating resonator. The approximation of the quasi-TE mode full vector for the eigenmode calculation is performed using a full vector mode solver. The transmission spectra of the device are evaluated using the transfer matrix method. We have observed a shift in the resonant band for a change in the refractive index of biomaterial in the upper cladding region. The theoretical value of the bulk sensitivity is calculated to be 387.48nm/RIU. The device is suitable for biosensing application due to its ability of interacting signal with the infiltrated analytes in the PSi waveguide core.

Refractive index and temperature sensing characteristics of an optical fiber sensor based on a tapered single mode fiber/polarization maintaining fiber

An evanescent field optical fiber sensor based on a short section of polarization maintaining fiber spliced with a tapered single mode fiber is proposed and experimentally investigated. We mainly focus on the refractive index （RI） and temperature sensing characteristics of this compact device. The transmission spectrum of the resonance wavelength, induced by the interference between the excited low order cladding modes and core modes, shows the quadratic function relationships with RI and linear relationships with temperature. Thus, the proposal of this simple-to-fabricate, compact, and low cost sensor shows its possible potential in the sensitive detection field.

Room Temperature Sol-Gel Fabrication and Functionalization for Sensor Applications

The structure and physical properties of a thin titania sol-gel layer prepared on silicon and silica surfaces were examined. Spectroscopic （FTIR, UV-VIS spectroscopy）, refractive index （ellipsometry） and microscopic （light microscopy and SEM/EDS） tools were used to examine both chemical uniformity and physical uniformity of the sol-gel glass layers. The conditions for the fabrication of uniform layers were established, and room temperature dopant incorporation was examined. The absorption bands of porphyrin-containing titania sol-gel layers were characterized. By addition of a metal salt to the titania layer, it was possible to metallate the free-base porphyrin within and change the UV-VIS absorbance of the porphyrin, the basis of metal detection using porphyrins. The metalloporphyrins were detected by localized laser ablation inductive coupled mass spectroscopy （LA-ICP-MS）, indicating fairly uniform distribution of metals across the titania surface.