Abstract
The dual-mode interferometer (DMI) is an attractive alternative to Mach-Zehnder interferometers for sensor purposes, achieving sensitivities to refractive index changes close to state-of-the-art. Modern designs on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platforms offer thermally stable and compact devices with insertion losses of less than 1 dB and high extinction ratios. Compact arrays of multiple DMIs in parallel are easy to fabricate due to the simple structure of the DMI. In this work, the principle of operation of an integrated DMI with differential outputs is presented which allows the unambiguous phase shift detection with a single wavelength measurement, rather than using a wavelength sweep and evaluating the optical output power spectrum. Fluctuating optical input power or varying attenuation due to different analyte concentrations can be compensated by observing the sum of the optical powers at the differential outputs. DMIs with two differential single-mode outputs are fabricated in a 250 nm SOI platform, and corresponding measurements are shown to explain the principle of operation in detail. A comparison of DMIs with the conventional Mach-Zehnder interferometer using the same technology concludes this work.
Highlights
The increasing demand for point of care diagnostics and highly sensitive monitoring in today’s process technology has led to huge efforts in miniaturizing optical sensors
In this work, operating principles for an extended dual-mode interferometer (DMI) design are presented, which allow the determination of the phase relation of the two modes with a single
The hashas a slightly higher excessexcess loss ofloss the mode in the combiner compared to types and 6,the but with the two differential outputs it is to determine the phase to types 4 and
Summary
The increasing demand for point of care diagnostics and highly sensitive monitoring in today’s process technology has led to huge efforts in miniaturizing optical sensors. In this work, operating principles for an extended DMI design are presented, which allow the determination of the phase relation of the two modes with a single. In this work, operating principles an extended are which allow the of phase design, such as insertion loss (IL). 4. A comparison to principles for an extended design are presented, which allow the determination of the phase relation of of for thean two modes with with adesign a single singleare wavelength measurement [4]. Section follows: summary of designs is given to illustrate the is advantages and drawbacks of existing theory of basic and wavelength operation explained in in existing designs.
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