High-Q, low index-contrast polymeric photonic crystal nanobeam cavities

TL;DR

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of high-Q polymeric photonic crystal nanobeam cavities with ultra-low index contrast, demonstrating their potential for ultra-sensitive biochemical sensing and bistability at low power levels.

Contribution

It introduces the first high-Q polymeric nanobeam cavities with ultra-low index contrast, enabling advanced sensing and bistability applications.

Findings

Achieved Q factor of 36,000 in polymeric nanobeam cavities.

Demonstrated thermo-optical bistability at hundred microwatt power levels.

Sensors outperform commercial Biacore$^{\mathrm{TM}}$ with FOM of 9190.

Abstract

We present the design, fabrication and characterization of high-\emph{Q} (\emph{Q}=36,000) polymeric photonic crystal nanobeam cavities made of two polymers that have an ultra-low index contrast (ratio=1.15) and observed thermo-optical bistability at hundred microwatt power level. Due to the extended evanescent field and small mode volumes, polymeric nanobeam cavities are ideal platform for ultra-sensitive biochemical sensing. We demonstrate that these sensors have figures of merit (FOM=9190) two orders of magnitude greater than surface plasmon resonance based sensors, and outperform the commercial Biacore$^{\mathrm{TM}}$ sensors. The demonstration of high-Q cavity in low-index-contrast polymers can open up versatile applications using a broad range of functional and flexible polymeric materials.