Refractive Index Change Research Articles

An SPR-Based In Situ Methane Sensor for the Aqueous and Gas Phase.

This paper presents a fast, low-cost, precise methane sensor based on refractive index changes in a cryptophane A (CryptA)-doped polystyrene membrane. For the realization of this sensor, we built a surface plasmon resonance sensor with a refractive index resolution of 4.31 × 10-6 and investigated the optimal membrane thickness, i.e., a polymer layer of sufficient sensitivity with the lowest response time. For a membrane thickness of 760 nm, a limit of detection of 135 ppm and a response time constant of 45 s were found. Despite a comparable refractive index resolution and a higher CryptA content, the limit of detection is 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of a reported prototype. The sensor is capable of quantifying methane in the gas or aqueous phase. However, temperature, humidity, and ethanol vapor highly influence the signal. Although the principle of CryptA-based methane measurement is a promising, fast, and low-cost method, it will not be able to compete with state-of-the-art sensing in its current state.

Near-Unity All-Optical Modulation of Third-Harmonic Generation with a Fano-Resonant Dielectric Metasurface.

We demonstrate all-optical modulation with a near-unity contrast of nonlinear light generation in a dielectric metasurface. We study third-harmonic generation from silicon Fano-resonant metasurfaces excited by femtosecond pulses at 1480 nm wavelength. We modulate the metasurface resonance by free carrier excitation induced by absorption of an 800 nm pump pulse, leading to up to 93% suppression of third-harmonic generation. Modulation and recovery occur on (sub)picosecond time scales. According to the Drude model, the pump-induced refractive index change blue-shifts the metasurface resonance away from the generation pulse, causing a strong modulation of third-harmonic conversion efficiency. The principle holds great promise for spatiotemporal programmability of nonlinear light generation.

Changes in Refractive Index and Mass Density Depending on the Concentration of Sugar Water

Changes in Refractive Index and Mass Density Depending on the Concentration of Sugar Water

Highly sensitive threaded LPFG strain sensor

Long Period Fiber Grating (LPFG) strain sensors have been used to monitor the structural health of bridges and buildings, and there is a need to further improve their sensing sensitivity. This article proposed a threaded LPFG strain sensor, which used a CO2 laser to etch a long groove at the top of the cladding of a single-mode fiber. The fiber in the long groove area was heated and twisted to fabricate a long period fiber grating (TH-LPFG) strain sensor with a threaded groove on the cladding. When strain is applied, the strain is concentrated in the threaded area on the cladding, increasing and decreasing the effective refractive index changes of the cladding mode and core mode respectively, achieving enhanced strain sensing. The experimental outcomes demonstrate that the TH-LPFG strain sensor achieves a sensitivity of 44.9 pm/µε to strain, while its cross-sensitivity to temperature is minimal, at just 1.28 µε/°C. TH-LPFG provides a new solution for enhancing the sensitivity of LPFG strain sensing, with low production cost and low temperature crosstalk. It can be used in the field of highly sensitive strain monitoring of building structures.

Broadband nonlinear refraction transients in C-doped GaN based on absorption spectroscopy

Optical nonlinear response and its dynamics of wide-bandgap materials are key to realizing integrated nonlinear photonics and photonic circuit applications. However, those applications are severely limited by the unavailability of both dispersion and dynamics of nonlinear refraction (NLR) via conventional measurements. In this work, the broadband NLR dynamics with extremely high sensitivity (λ/1000) can be obtained from absorption spectroscopy in GaN:C using the refraction-related interference model. Both the absorption and refraction kinetics are found to be significantly modulated by the C-related defects. Especially, we demonstrate that the refractive index change Δn of GaN:C is negative and can be used to realize all-optical switching applications owing to the large NLR and ultrafast switching time. The NLR under different non-equilibrium carrier distributions originates from the capture of electrons by CN+ defect state, while the absorption modulation originates from the excitation of tri-carbon defects. We believe that this work provides a better understanding of the GaN:C nonlinear properties and an effective solution to broadband NLR dynamics of transparent thin films or heterostructure materials.

Label-free detection of formaldehyde in water by titanium doped MoS2 gold nanoislands LSPR sensor

Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen widely present in various industrial processes. Dissolved formaldehyde in water poses a significant threat to human health, not solely gases. Here, a novel label-free detection scheme of formaldehyde in aqueous environment via Ti-doped MoS2 as the functionalized layer on a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor is reported. It has been found that the strong adsorption of formaldehyde on Ti-doped MoS2 attached on gold nanoislands induces a strong local refractive index change and enables sensitive detection. Besides, the characterization and LSPR experimental results also highlight the contribution of the nanoislands morphology to facilitate improved surface attachment of Ti-doped MoS2, and in turn improves the sensing performance. Along with experimental work, density functional theory (DFT) calculation has shown the strong formaldehyde adsorption on Ti-doped MoS2 with water molecules included, therefore confirming its feasibility and effectiveness for sensing. The sensor has successfully achieved an excellent detection limit of 0.104 ppb with its selectivity studied and confirmed using DFT calculations and experiment. The practical value of this research lies in its potential development of this light-based sensor for water quality monitoring with the major advantages of facile synthesis, fast detection, and label-free sensing offered by LSPR.

Fibre Refractometry for Minimally Invasive Sugar Content Measurements within Produce

A minimally invasive needle refractometer is presented for sugar content measurements within produce. A passive sampling cap structure was developed that improves the reliability of the device by avoiding interfering back reflections from the flesh of the produce. It is explained that factory calibration may not be needed for this type of refractometer, potentially reducing production costs. Also demonstrated is an iterative method to correct for temperature variations without the need for an integrated model for how the refractive index changes with temperature for different levels of sugar concentration. The sensor showed a typical standard deviation of 0.4 °Bx for a 10-s-long measurement and was validated against a prism refractometer, showing an average offset of (0.0±0.1) °Bx. In addition, the potential for using the device to investigate sugar distributions within a single fruit sample is demonstrated.

Optical properties of transition metals complex films derived from hydrazone oxime for optoelectronic devices

Hydrazone incorporating oxime nucleus and its Ni2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and UO22+ metallic chelates have been prepared and completely characterized by different spectral, theoretical, and analytical techniques including NMR, FT-IR, mass, and EAS spectroscopy. The finding denoted that the Hydrazone ligand bonded as a dibasic tridentate chelator via deprotonated oximato nitrogen, enol carbonyl oxygen and hydrazono azomethine nitrogen atoms resultant in octahedral geometry for Ni2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and UO22+. Theoretical studies by DFT/B3LYP/LANLDZ together with dipole moment, geometrical optimization, energetic parameters, and energy gap (HOMO–LUMO) were employed to support the geometrical structure of the synthetics. Additionally, these complexes were prepared in the form of thin film onto cleaned glass substrate by spin-coating technique. The values of the optical band gap (Eg) and film index of refraction (n) have been determined by many different methods. It was found that the hydrazone-oxime (OBBH2) film has the highest value of Eg (eV) where the UOBB complex film has the smallest value of Eg (2.56 eV). The latter is very close to the Eg value of ZnSe (2.58 eV). The refractive index changes with wavelengths show normal dispersion which is well discussed in terms of Sellmeier's dispersion model. Also, the nonlinear optical parameters viz. the first (χ(1)) and third (χ(3)) orders of nonlinear optical susceptibilities and the non-linear index of refraction (n2) have been studied. The complex dielectric constant (ε⌣=εr+iεi)), conductivity (σ⌣=σr+iσi), sheet resistance (Rs), and thermal have been investigated over the whole spectral range. According to the results of χ(1), χ(3) and n2 the complex films under study are candidates to be used in optical switching gadgets, optical modulators, and optical signal processing.

Spectroscopic ellipsometry investigation of a 6H–SiC single crystal plate for potential use in graphene optoelectronic devices

At room temperature, the spectroscopic ellipsometry SE parameters Epsi (ψ) and Delta (Δ) for 6H–SiC crystal substrate were measured in the wavelength range 350–1700 nm at four different angles of incidence, 60°, 65°, 70°, and 75°. An SE model was developed to extract optical consents of 6H–SiC crystal substrate from the experimentally measured SE parameters. In the wavelength range 350–1700 nm, the refractive index of the 6H–SiC crystal substrate was extracted and fitted to two terms of the Sellmeier dispersion function. In the wide spectral range (350–1700 nm), the Wemple-DiDomenico (WDD) dispersion model shows how the real refractive index changes with wavelength. The analysis of refractive index dispersion of the 6H–SiC crystal substrate using Sellmeier dispersion function and WDD optical model allows to extract oscillator strength Nfij, average oscillator energy Eo, dispersion energy of the single oscillator Ed, lattice oscillator strength El, Abbe dispersion number, energy gap Eg, density of valence electrons nv, refractive index at infinite wavelength n∞, lattice dielectric constant εL, the ratio of free carrier density to free carrier effective mass (N/m∗), and plasma frequency ωp. For the 6H–SiC crystal substrate, in the desired spectral range (240–1700 nm), it does not have any depolarization effect on the reflected polarized light.

A simulation-based analysis of optical read-out for electrochemical reactions using composite vortex beams.

We propose an optical read-out method for extracting faradaic current in electrochemical (EC) reactions and analyze its performance using opto-EC simulations. Our approach utilizes structured electrodes to generate composite optical vortex (COV) beams upon optical illumination. Through opto-EC simulations, we demonstrate that the EC reaction of 10 mM potassium ferricyanide induces a refractive index (RI) change, RI, of approximately RI units, leading to the rotation of the COV beam's intensity profile with a peak rotation of . This rotation's magnitude is proportional to RI, while the rate correlates with the faradaic current ( ) density responsible for RI. As the opto-EC information is from bulk RI, it remains unaffected by interfering non-faradaic components at the interface and is advantageous for studying intermediate species and bulk homogeneous reactions. Furthermore, as rotation depends on density rather than itself, this method proves beneficial in low scenarios, such as when employing micro-electrodes to decrease solution resistance or obtain localized EC data. Even in low density scenarios, like monitoring slow EC reactions, our method enables signal amplification by accumulating rotation over time. This interdisciplinary approach holds promise for advancing EC research and addressing critical challenges across various fields, including energy storage, corrosion protection, environmental remediation, and biomedical sciences.

Composition, Temperature, and Size Regulation of Refractive Index in Ternary Group-Ⅲ Nitride Alloys: a Bond Relaxation Investigation

Abstract The physical origins of composition-, temperature-, and size-motivated changes in refractive index in crystals have long been a puzzle. Combining the bond-order-length-strength theory, local bond average approach, and core-shell structural model, we investigated the refractive indexes in dependencies of composition, temperature, and size for the ternary wurtzite group-Ⅲ nitride alloys. The theoretical reproduction of the observations disclosed that (ⅰ) the doping of small atoms caused the contraction in bond length, the strengthening in bond energy, and the decrease of refractive index, whereas the doping of large atoms led to an elongation of bond length, a weakening of bond energy, and an increase of refractive index; (ⅱ) the refractive index is inversely proportional to the cohesive energy and the cube of the Debye temperature; and (ⅲ) with the gradual decrease in solid size, the coordination number lowers, the bond length contracts, the bond energy gains, the surface-to-volume ratio rises, and the refractive index decreases. The proposed formulation not only shows an in-depth comprehension of the physical essence of the stimuli impact on the refractive index but also is expected to be conducive to the exploitation, optimization, and operation of the new-type photonic, piezoelectric, and pyroelectric nanometer devices for the ternary wurtzite alloys.

Analysis of pulsed direct current reactive magnetron sputtering on a silicon target

Reactive sputtering is a very useful technique, particularly, for producing inhomogeneous interference filters, where the refractive index changes smoothly during deposition. In such a context, precise control of deposition parameters is crucial for replicating the desired optical properties. This study employed a pulsed DC power source to investigate the influence of a duty cycle on target poisoning, sputtering plasma characteristics, electric signals, and optical and morphological properties of synthesized films. Reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering was characterized by analyzing the behavior of plasma emission via optical emission spectroscopy and voltage-current signals, while modulating parameters such as the oxygen content within the vacuum chamber. A set of thin films was coated on glass substrates under different system conditions. These films underwent characterization employing spectroscopic ellipsometry to ascertain their optical constants, atomic force microscopy for surface morphology analysis, and x-ray diffraction for the determination of crystalline structures. The results indicate that longer duty cycles required higher oxygen levels to poison the target. Additionally, a detailed analysis of electrical signals revealed nonsquare waveforms, whose characteristics were influenced by both the duty cycle and the oxygen content within the sputtering chamber, resulting in higher effective voltages during the on-time of the voltage pulse. Grown films via reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering were also compared to films grown via conventional DC magnetron sputtering at equivalent conditions of target poisoning.

Atomic-engineered gradient tunable solid-state metamaterials

Metamaterial has been captivated a popular notion, offering photonic functionalities beyond the capabilities of natural materials. Its desirable functionality primarily relies on well-controlled conditions such as structural resonance, dispersion, geometry, filling fraction, external actuation, etc. However, its fundamental building blocks-meta-atoms-still rely on naturally occurring substances. Here, we propose and validate the concept of gradient and reversible atomic-engineered metamaterials (GRAM), which represents a platform for continuously tunable solid metaphotonics by atomic manipulation. GRAM consists of an atomic heterogenous interface of amorphous host and noble metals at the bottom, and the top interface was designed to facilitate the reversible movement of foreign atoms. Continuous and reversible changes in GRAM's refractive index and atomic structures are observed in the presence of a thermal field. We achieve multiple optical states of GRAM at varying temperature and time and demonstrate GRAM-based tunable nanophotonic devices in the visible spectrum. Further, high-efficiency and programmable laser raster-scanning patterns can be locally controlled by adjusting power and speed, without any mask-assisted or complex nanofabrication. Our approach casts a distinct, multilevel, and reversible postfabrication recipe to modify a solid material's properties at the atomic scale, opening avenues for optical materials engineering, information storage, display, and encryption, as well as advanced thermal optics and photonics.

Plasmonic coupling dependent sensitivity in localized surface plasmon resonance based optical sensors

This paper investigates the impact of environmental changes on silver nanoparticles (AgNp) immobilized sensor probe within strong and weak plasmonic coupling regimes. To monitor these interaction regimes, evanescent wave absorption based on fiber optic and attenuated total reflection techniques have been employed. In the weak coupling regime, variations in refractive index (RI) primarily affect intensity rather than wavelength. Conversely, in the strong coupling regime, intensity decreases, while wavelength sensitivity increases with changes in RI. Our findings qualitatively agree with a theoretical framework based on the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) for two-particle interacting systems, providing valuable insights for optimizing plasmonic interactions to enhance sensitivity. This information will aid the scientific and industrial community in understanding the plasmonic interaction region for maximizing sensitivity of Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) based photonic devices.

Change in refractive index of p-SnS thin film due to molecular polarizability

Change in refractive index of p-SnS thin film due to molecular polarizability

Optical Based Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor for the Detection of the Various Kind of Cancerous Cell.

This research explores a novel biosensor design that exhibits much higher sensitivity compared to conventional biosensors. The biosensor's uniqueness originated from its innovative structure, which incorporates N-FK51A/Ag/AlON/BlueP materials, as well as its cutting-edge fabrication method. The refractive index component was considered when designing the SPR biosensor, which was developed from the angular analysis of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) approach for cancer detection. For instance, the resonance angle shifts by 15.57 deg when the refractive index changes from 1.360 to 1.401, demonstrating the sensor's responsiveness to variation in the refractive index. The sensitivities for skin (basal), cervical (HeLa), blood (Jurkat), adrenal gland (PC12), and breast (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7) cancer cells were 197.65, 243.66, 255.36, 302.71, 372.57, and 416.85 deg/RIU, respectively. Also, the detection accuracy (DA), the figure of merit (FoM), and the quality factor were 0.37/deg, 155.94 (deg/RIU), and 26.71 RIU-1. We also examine the effects of substituting the noble, dielectric, 2D material layer with conventional biosensor materials for six cancers. Each time, the Ag/AION/BlueP layered structure performed best in distinguishing cancer cells from healthy cells. We also study the prism effects. The proposed biosensor, with a RI of 1.29-1.40, has a linear regression coefficient of R2 of 0.96094.

Graphene-functionalized photonic crystal fibers for detecting the refractive index of a wide range of analyzes

This study looks into a new photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor covered in graphene that can detect changes in the analyte's refractive index (RI) in the COMSOL environment. The sensor operates by detecting a peak in light loss that varies in wavelength based on the RI of the analyte. Higher RI analytes shift the peak towards longer wavelengths. It is explored how many factors affect the sensor's performance, such as graphene's Fermi energy, the site inside the fiber, and the thickness of the gold layer. The location of graphene and its Fermi energy have a substantial influence on how the sensor responds. Interestingly, the resonant wavelength has a linear relationship with the RI of the analyte, which allows for precise RI calculation. Increasing gold thickness improves light-material interaction, but subsequent thickening has a detrimental impact, lowering sensor sensitivity. The appropriate thickness varies according to the material under consideration. Finally, the analysis determines the optimal arrangement of graphene for maximum sensitivity by completely covering the analyte holes in the PCF. By finding the right balance between these factors, the suggested sensor can have both high spectral sensitivity and low sensor resolution.

A Review of Integrated Photonic Devices Using Sb2Se3

AbstractThe silicon photonic technology is a highly promising option for photonic integrated circuits and has attracted intensive interests, particularly since it can utilize complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor processing techniques and facilities, thereby realizing high‐density photonic integrations with low‐cost. Unfortunately, the thermo‐optic and the carrier dispersion effects, which are the typical means of tuning silicon photonics devices, bring the drawbacks of high power consumption and large device size due to the relatively weak effect with a small refractive index change and being volatile. For overcoming these drawbacks, phase‐change materials are introduced into silicon photonic devices, where VO2 and Ge2Sb2Te5 are the most commonly used ones. However, the key disadvantage of large loss resulting from them limits further improving the performances of integrated photonic devices. Therefore, Sb2Se3 has seen increasing interests recently in the design of silicon photonic integrated devices, benefiting from the advantages of having extremely low loss over the C‐band and being non‐volatile. In this paper, the trending recent studies about integrated optical devices are systematically reviewed using Sb2Se3, which are classified according to the device function.

High-Sensitivity Janus Sensor Enabled by Multilayered Metastructure Based on the Photonic Spin Hall Effect and Its Potential Applications in Bio-Sensing.

The refractive index (RI) of biological tissues is a fundamental material parameter that characterizes how light interacts with tissues, making accurate measurement of RI crucial for biomedical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. A Janus sensor (JBS) is designed in this paper, and the photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) is used to detect subtle changes in RI in biological tissues. The asymmetric arrangement of the dielectric layers breaks spatial parity symmetry, resulting in significantly different PSHE displacements during the forward and backward propagation of electromagnetic waves, thereby realizing the Janus effect. The designed JBS can detect the RI range of 1.3~1.55 RIU when electromagnetic waves are incident along the +z-axis, with a sensitivity of 96.29°/refractive index unit (RIU). In the reverse direction, blood glucose concentrations are identified by the JBS, achieving a sensitivity of 18.30°/RIU. Detecting different RI range from forward and backward scales not only overcomes the limitation that single-scale sensors can only detect a single RI range, but also provides new insights and applications for optical biological detection through high-sensitivity, label-free and non-contact detection.

Investigation of oscillator strength, absorption coefficients and refractive index changes of ZnSe/ZnS non-concentric core–shell quantum dot

Investigation of oscillator strength, absorption coefficients and refractive index changes of ZnSe/ZnS non-concentric core–shell quantum dot