Experimental Study on Near-IR Nonlinear Optical Waveguide Sensor for Refractive Index of Liquids

To determine the refractive index of liquids in near infrared（lR）, a method is presented by measuring the output angle of the visible Cerenkov-radiation-mode when liquids are placed as the cover on a planar lithium niobate waveguide. The system configuration and the principle of the method are analyzed and some experimental results are given out. Both the experimental result and simulation show that this method is simple, rapid and of sufficient precision.

Cyclodextrin Polymer Films Optical Waveguide Sensor for Volatile Organic Gas Detection

A sensitive optical waveguide（OWG） sensor which can be used to detect volatile organic compounds（VOCs） was presented.The sensing device（element） was fabricated by means of the immobilization of polyvinyl pyrrolidone（PVP）-cyclodextrin（CD） composite film over a single-mode potassium ion exchanged glass OWG via spin-coating method.The sensor shows higher response to styrene gas than to other VOCs and displays a linear response to styrene gas in a range of 1―1000 μL/L.

Sensitivity Enhancement of Nonlinear Waveguide Sensors With Conducting Graphene Layer： TE Mode

We propose a three-layer waveguide sensor. The proposed sensor consists of a graphene thin layer with constant conductivity at the interface between air and dielectric media with thickness d sitting above a nonlinear layer. The sensitivity of the sensor is derived from the dispersion equation. The sensitivity is calculated for both TE0 and TE1. Results show that the sensitivity of the proposed sensor depends on the conductivity of the graphene layer, the angular frequency, and the thickness of the dielectric layer.

A High-Sensitivity Refractive-Index Sensor Based on Plasmonic Waveguides Asymmetrically Coupled with a Nanodisk Resonator

A high-sensitivity plasmonic refractive-index sensor based on the asymmetrical coupling of two metal-insulator- metal waveguides with a nanodisk resonator is proposed and simulated in the finite-difference time domain. Both analytic and simulated results show that the resonance wavelengths of the sensor have an approximate linear relationship with the refractive index of the materials which are filled into the slit waveguides and the disk- shaped resonator. The working mechanism of this sensor is exactly due to the linear relationship, based on which tile refractive index of the materials unknown can be obtained from the detection of the resonance wavelength. The measurement sensitivity can reach as high as 6.45 × 10-7, which is nearly five times higher than the results reported in the recent literature [Opt. Commun. 300 （2013） 265]. With an optimum design, the sensing value can be further improved, and it can be widely applied into the biological sensing. Tile sensor working for temperature sensing is also analyzed.

Terahertz multi-metal-wire hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide for refractive index sensing

We propose a design of terahertz refractive index sensing based on the multi-metal-wire（MMW） hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide. The proposed terahertz hybrid-cladding hollow waveguide comprises one air core in the center surrounding MMW surrounded dielectric. The central air core is used for filling lossless measurands and transmitting terahertz light. In particular, the refractive index sensing is realized by measuring the mode field area（MFA） variation of radially polarized mode. The modal effective refractive index, mode field intensity distribution, and mode field area properties responding to the measurand refractive indexes for different operating frequencies and structure dimensions are investigated, respectively.Simulations show that the proposed terahertz refractive index sensor can realize easily the measurement of the measurand refractive index. Meanwhile, the effects of operating frequency and structure parameters on sensitivity and measurement accuracy are also studied. In view of the trade-off between sensitivity and measurement accuracy, the reasonable choice of the operating frequency and structure parameters can optimize appropriately the sensitivity and measurement accuracy, and the sensitivity can reach approximately 0.585 mm^2/RIU（RIU is short for refraction index units） with the proper frequency and structure parameter.

The Sensitivity of TE Filed Propagating in LHM-Antiferromagnetic Sensor

A three-layer waveguide structure sensor consists of LHMs （left-handed materials） film surrounded by dielectric cladding and antiferromagnetie substrate is proposed. LHMs known as MTMs （metamaterials） have simultaneous negative permeability and permittivity. The dispersion relation for the structure is derived for TE guided modes. Two ranges of frequencies are chosen such that Voigt permeability,μv, either negative or positive. The sensitivity is proven to be affected by different parameters including the film thickness, LHM parameters, and Voigt frequency.

Refractive Index Sensor Based on Metal-Clad Planar Polymer Waveguide Operating at 850nm

A metal-clad planar polymer waveguide refractive index sensor based on epoxy(EPO)polymer materials by using light intensity interrogation at 850 nm is designed.The polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)material is deployed as the low refractive index(RI)buffer layer in order to better couple the optical guided mode and the surface plasmon polaritons(SPP)mode for working in water environment.The effects of the gold film thickness,PMMA buffer layer thickness,waveguide layer thickness,waveguide width,and gold length on the sensor sensing characteristics have been comprehensively studied.Simulation results demonstrate that the normalized transmission increases quasi-linearly with the increment of RI of the analyte from 1.33 to 1.46.The sensitivity is 491.5 dB/RIU,corresponding to a high RI resolution of 2.6×10^(9)RIU.The designed SPP-based optical waveguide sensor is low-cost,wide-range,and high-precision,and has a broad application prospect in biochemical sensing with merits of miniaturization,flexibility,and multiplexing.

Simple Raman scattering sensor integrated with a metallic planar optical waveguide: effective modulation via minor structural adjustment

We report experimental realization of Raman spectra enhancement of copper phthalocyanine, using an on-chip metallic planar waveguide of the sub-millimeter scale. The oscillating ultrahigh order modes excited by the direct coupling method yield high optical intensity at resonance, which is different from the conventional strategy to create localized ＂hot spots.＂ The observed excitation efficiency of the Raman signal is significantly enhanced,owing to the high Q factor of the resonant cavity. Furthermore, effective modulation of the Raman intensity is available by adjusting the polymethyl methacrylate（PMMA） thickness in the guiding layer, i.e., by tuning the light–matter interaction length. A large modulation depth is verified through the fact that 10 times variation in the enhancement factor is observed in the experiment as the PMMA thickness varies from 7 to 23 μm.

Optimizing the design of GaAs/AlGaAs thin-film waveguides for integrated mid-infrared sensors

Optical simulations of GaAs/AlGaAs thin-film waveguides were performed for investigating the dependence of the modal behavior on waveguide geometry and the resulting analytical sensitivity. Simulations were performed for two distinct mid-infrared wavelengths, thereby demonstrating the necessity of individually designed waveguide structures for each spectral regime of interest. Hence, the modal behavior, sensitivity, and intensity of the evanescent field were investigated via modeling studies at 1600 and 1000 cm^(-1), thereby confirming the utility of such simulations for designing mid-infrared sensors based on thin-film waveguide technology.