Photonic crystal slot waveguide for high sensitivity on-chip near-infrared optical absorption spectroscopy of xylene in water

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a 300μm long silicon photonic crystal slot waveguide for on-chip near-infrared absorption spectroscopy. Based on the Beer-Lambert absorption law, our device combines slow light in photonic crystal waveguide with high electric field intensity in low-index 75nm wide slot, which effectively increases the optical absorption path length of the analyte. We demonstrate near-infrared absorption spectroscopy of xylene in water, independent of near-infrared absorption signatures of water, with a hydrophobic PDMS sensing phase that extracts xylene from water. Xylene concentrations up to 100ppb (parts per billion) (86μg/L) in water were measured.