Experimental Validation of the Sensitivity of Waveguide Grating Based Refractometric (Bio)sensors

Despite the fact that the theoretical foundations of the sensitivity of waveguide grating based (bio)sensors are well-known, understood and their implications anticipated by the scientific community since several decades, to our knowledge, no prior publication has experimentally confirmed waveguide...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biosensors (Basel) 2015-04, Vol.5 (2), p.187-198
Main Authors: Gartmann, Thomas E, Kehl, Florian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation
bulk refractive index sensitivity
grating coupler
integrated optics
Models, Theoretical
Optical Devices
Optical Phenomena
Refractometry - instrumentation
waveguide grating sensor
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Summary:Despite the fact that the theoretical foundations of the sensitivity of waveguide grating based (bio)sensors are well-known, understood and their implications anticipated by the scientific community since several decades, to our knowledge, no prior publication has experimentally confirmed waveguide sensitivity for multiple film thicknesses, wavelengths and polarization of the propagating light. In this paper, the bulk refractive index sensitivity versus waveguide thickness of said refractometric sensors is experimentally determined and compared with predictions based on established theory. The effective refractive indices and the corresponding sensitivity were determined via the sensors' coupling angles at different cover refractive indices for transverse electric as well as transverse magnetic polarized illumination at various wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared. The theoretical sensitivity was calculated by solving the mode equation for a three layer waveguide.
ISSN:2079-6374
2079-6374
DOI:10.3390/bios5020187