Advances in Waveguide Bragg Grating Structures, Platforms, and Applications: An Up-to-Date Appraisal

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Bragg gratings (BGs) are 1D optical devices with periodic refractive index fluctuations in waveguides (WGs), enabling specific wavelength reflection.
• Waveguide Bragg gratings (WG BGs) offer advantages like miniaturization, electromagnetic interference immunity, and high-speed operation, making them suitable for integrated photonic circuits.
• WG BGs are compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication, facilitating chip-level integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review waveguide Bragg grating (WG BG) structures for optical filtering and sensing applications.
• To discuss WG BG implementations across semiconductor, polymer, and plasmonic optical platforms.
• To highlight how platform selection influences device performance and footprint.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on WG BG devices.
• Categorization of WG BG structures based on optical platforms (semiconductors, polymers, plasmonics).
• Analysis of device performance and application suitability for each platform.

Main Results:

• WG BGs are effective for both filtering and sensing, with performance dictated by the chosen optical platform.
• Semiconductor, polymer, and plasmonic platforms offer distinct advantages for WG BG fabrication and application.
• Platform selection is critical for optimizing device performance and physical dimensions.

Conclusions:

• Waveguide Bragg gratings are highly adaptable optical components for diverse applications.
• The choice of semiconductor, polymer, or plasmonic platform is a key determinant in WG BG design and functionality.
• Further development in these platforms will enhance the capabilities of optical filtering and sensing technologies.