Surface and waveguide collection of Raman emission in waveguide-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

We demonstrate Raman spectroscopy on a high index thin film tantalum pentoxide waveguide and compare collection of Raman emission from the waveguide end with that from the waveguide surface. Toluene was used as a convenient model analyte, and a 40-fold greater signal was collected from the waveguide end. Simulations of angular and spatial Raman emission distributions showed good agreement with experiments, with the enhancement resulting from efficient collection of power from dipoles near the surface into the high-index waveguide film and substrate, combined with long interaction length. The waveguide employed was optimized at the excitation wavelength but not at emission wavelengths, and full optimization is expected to lead to enhancements comparable to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in robust low-cost metal-free and nanostructure-free chips.