Performance of SOI Bragg grating ring resonator for nonlinear sensing applications

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Optical Sensing
• Integrated Optics

Background:

• Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform enables advanced photonic devices.
• Ring resonators with Bragg gratings offer unique spectral properties.
• Refractive index (RI) sensors are crucial for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• Propose a novel spectroscopic sensor based on an SOI waveguiding Bragg grating ring resonator.
• Investigate its performance in both linear and nonlinear regimes for RI sensing.
• Enhance sensor resolution and robustness against fabrication and environmental variations.

Main Methods:

• Device fabrication using silicon-on-insulator technology.
• Characterization of the sensor's spectral response in linear and nonlinear regimes.
• Analysis of nonlinear effects including Two Photon Absorption (TPA) and Kerr nonlinearity.
• Evaluation of thermal and stress effects on sensor performance.

Main Results:

• The sensor exhibits a photonic band gap (PBG) in the linear regime.
• Split resonant modes near PBG edges enable RI sensing with fabrication tolerance.
• Nonlinear regime operation, particularly near split modes, significantly improves RI sensing performance.
• Performance enhancement by at least one order of magnitude in sensor resolution is achieved.

Conclusions:

• The proposed SOI Bragg grating ring resonator sensor offers enhanced RI sensing capabilities.
• Nonlinear operation, considering various physical effects, boosts sensor resolution and robustness.
• This technology holds promise for highly sensitive and stable optical sensing applications.