Photonic crystal microcavity source-based chemical sensor

S. Chakravarty; Y. Kang; J. Topolancik; P. Bhattacharya; M. E. Meyerhoff; S. Chakrabarti

doi:10.1117/12.631340

10 November 2005 Photonic crystal microcavity source-based chemical sensor

S. Chakravarty, Y. Kang, J. Topolancik, P. Bhattacharya, M. E. Meyerhoff, S. Chakrabarti

Proceedings Volume 6005, Photonic Crystals and Photonic Crystal Fibers for Sensing Applications; 600504 (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.631340
Event: Optics East 2005, 2005, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

An ultra-small photonic crystal (PC) optical microcavity to detect small changes in concentration of chemical analytes in solutions is demonstrated. The high electric field concentration in small modal volumes of PC microcavities leads to high quality factor and efficient light-matter interaction with ultrasmall volumes of analyte and makes PC microcavities very sensitive to changes in refractive index of the surrounding medium. A linear PC microcavity was fabricated with four missing holes in a triangular lattice of air rods in a GaAs slab with an embedded quantum-dot active region on a GaAs substrate. The detection scheme depends upon the shifts of the sharp resonances supported by polymer-coated PC microcavities, due to change in refractive index, when in contact with a solution with a particular ionic concentration. For ClO₄- anions, the resonance peaks shift by 20nm over the concentration range 10^-3M to 10^-6M. A smaller shift of 5nm is observed for Ca²⁺ ions over the same range. The device is a demonstration of PC microcavities in ion sensing. The microcavity sensing area is smaller than in microsphere-based detection or surface plasmon resonance imaging techniques and the devices are ideal as optical sensors for "lab-on-a-chip" microfluidic applications with minuscule volumes of analyte.

Citation Download Citation

S. Chakravarty, Y. Kang, J. Topolancik, P. Bhattacharya, M. E. Meyerhoff, and S. Chakrabarti "Photonic crystal microcavity source-based chemical sensor", Proc. SPIE 6005, Photonic Crystals and Photonic Crystal Fibers for Sensing Applications, 600504 (10 November 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.631340

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available