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Fabrication and Testing of Microfluidic Optomechanical Oscillators
Published on: May 29, 2014
Optimization of optical ring resonator devices for sensing applications.
1OFS Laboratories, 19 Schoolhouse Road, Somerset, New Jersey 08873, USA. sumetski@ofsoptics.com
Optics Letters
|September 4, 2007
Summary
The Q-factor does not fully determine optical resonator sensitivity. Optimal steepness and sharpness depend on extinction ratio, achievable by tuning waveguide coupling for enhanced sensing performance.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and optical sensing technologies.
- Resonator device physics and performance optimization.
Background:
- The Q-factor is widely assumed to solely dictate optical resonator sensitivity in sensing.
- This assumption overlooks critical parameters influencing resonance behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the specific parameters governing resonator sensitivity: resonance steepness and sharpness.
- To determine optimal device configurations for maximizing these sensitivity parameters.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of transmission resonance parameters (steepness, sharpness, extinction ratio).
- Investigation of single ring and coupled multi-ring resonator sensor configurations.
- Parametric study based on intrinsic losses and waveguide coupling.
Main Results:
- For single ring resonators, maximum slope occurs at 9.5 dB extinction ratio, maximum sharpness at 6 dB.
- For coupled multi-ring resonators, optimal slope is ~9 dB, optimal sharpness is ~4.5 dB.
- These optimal parameters are tunable via waveguide coupling.
Conclusions:
- Resonator sensitivity is influenced by more than just Q-factor, specifically extinction ratio.
- Tuning waveguide coupling allows optimization of resonance steepness and sharpness for improved sensing.
- Findings provide practical guidelines for designing high-sensitivity optical resonator sensors.
