Detection of chemical vapor with high sensitivity by using the symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide-enhanced...

We present a novel and simple optical structure, i.e., the symmetrical metal-cladding waveguide, in which a polymer layer is added into the guiding layer, for sensitive detection of chemical vapor by using the enhanced Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift (nearly a millimeter scale). Owing to the high sensitivity of the excited ultrahigh-order modes, the vapor-induced effect (swelling effect and refractive index change) in the polymer layer will lead to a dramatic variation of the GH shift. The detected GH shift signal is irrelevant to the power fluctuation of the incident light. The detection limit of 9.5 ppm for toluene and 28.5 ppm for benzene has been achieved.