Two-channel highly sensitive sensors based on 4 × 4 multimode interference couplers

Abstract

We propose a new kind of microring resonators (MRR) based on 4 × 4 multimode interference (MMI) couplers for multichannel and highly sensitive chemical and biological sensors. The proposed sensor structure has advantages of compactness and high sensitivity compared with the reported sensing structures. By using the transfer matrix method (TMM) and numerical simulations, the designs of the sensor based on silicon waveguides are optimized and demonstrated in detail. We apply our structure to detect glucose and ethanol concentrations simultaneously. A high sensitivity of 9000 nm/RIU, detection limit of 2 × 10^‒4 for glucose sensing and sensitivity of 6000 nm/RIU, detection limit of 1.3 × 10^‒5 for ethanol sensing are achieved.

Keywords

Biological sensors / chemical sensors / optical microring resonators / high sensitivity / multimode interference / transfer matrix method / beam propagation method (BPM) / multichannel sensor

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