Waveguide Mach-Zehnder biosensor with laser diode pumped integrated single-mode silicon nitride organic hybrid...

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Organic solid-state lasers offer potential for cost-effective coherent light sources.
• Photonic lab-on-a-chip biosensors require integrated, efficient light sources.
• Existing biosensor technologies can be limited by cost and complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an organic-hybrid laser system for integration into optical waveguide biosensors.
• To demonstrate the practicability of this system for sensitive refractive index and molecular binding detection.
• To facilitate applications in point-of-care diagnostics.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a dye-doped organic solid-state distributed feedback laser.
• Integration with a silicon nitride photonic platform Mach-Zehnder interferometer.
• Optical pumping using a laser diode with alignment tolerance.

Main Results:

• The organic-hybrid laser demonstrated direct emission into an optical waveguide.
• The system showed sensitivity to bulk refractive index changes.
• Concentration-dependent binding of streptavidin was successfully detected.

Conclusions:

• The developed organic-hybrid laser is a cost-efficient coherent light source for optical waveguide biosensors.
• The system's design facilitates alignment-tolerant optical pumping for practical applications.
• This technology shows promise for advancing point-of-care diagnostic tools.