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Title: Single-mode porous silicon waveguide interferometers with unity confinement factors for ultra-sensitive surface adlayer sensing

Journal Article · · Optics Express
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.27.022485· OSTI ID:1546510

Guided wave-optics has emerged as a promising platform for label free biosensing. However, device sensitivity toward surface-bound small molecules is directly limited by the evanescent interaction and low confinement factor with the active sensing region. Here, we report a mesoporous silicon waveguide design and inverse fabrication technique that resolves the evanescent field interaction limitation while achieving maximal transverse confinement factors and preserving single-mode operation. The waveguide sensors are characterized in a Fabry-Perot interferometer configuration and the ultra-high sensitivity to small molecule adlayers is demonstrated. We also identify dispersion to be a promising degree of freedom for exceeding the sensitivity limits predicted by the conventional non-dispersive effective medium theory.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1546510
Journal Information:
Optics Express, Vol. 27, Issue 16; ISSN 1094-4087
Publisher:
Optical Society of America (OSA)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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