Plasmofluidic Disk Resonators

Waveguide-coupled silicon ring or disk resonators have been used for optical signal processing and sensing. Large-scale integration of optical devices demands continuous reduction in their footprints, and ultimately they need to be replaced by silicon-based plasmonic resonators. However, few waveguide-coupled silicon-based plasmonic resonators have been realized until now. Moreover, fluid cannot interact effectively with them since their resonance modes are strongly confined in solid regions. To solve this problem, this paper reports realized plasmofluidic disk resonators (PDRs). The PDR consists of a submicrometer radius silicon disk and metal laterally surrounding the disk with a 30-nm-wide channel in between. The channel is filled with fluid, and the resonance mode of the PDR is strongly confined in the fluid. The PDR coupled to a metal-insulator-silicon-insulator-metal waveguide is implemented by using standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. If the refractive index of the fluid increases by 0.141, the transmission spectrum of the waveguide coupled to the PDR of radius 0.9 μm red-shifts by 30 nm. The PDR can be used as a refractive index sensor requiring a very small amount of analyte. Plus, the PDR filled with liquid crystal may be an ultracompact intensity modulator which is effectively controlled by small driving voltage.