Refractometric sensing of Li salt with visible-light Si3N4 microdisk resonators

TL;DR

This paper presents a visible-light silicon nitride microdisk resonator system for detecting small concentrations of Li salt in aqueous solutions, demonstrating high sensitivity and ease of use.

Contribution

The work introduces a microdisk resonator sensing platform using visible light and a dimpled-tapered fiber for efficient coupling and testing multiple devices simultaneously.

Findings

Sensitivity of 200 nm/RIU for 20 μm disks

Limit of detection of 1.3×10⁻⁶ RIU

Loaded quality factor of 1.5×10⁴

Abstract

We demonstrate aqueous refractive index sensing with 15 to 30 {\mu}m diameter silicon nitride microdisk resonators to detect small concentrations of Li salt. A dimpled-tapered fiber is used to couple 780 nm visible light to the microdisks, in order to perform spectroscopy their optical resonances. The dimpled fiber probe allows testing of multiple devices on a chip in a single experiment. This sensing system is versatile and easy to use, while remaining competitive with other refractometric sensors. For example, from a 20 {\mu}m diameter device we measure a sensitivity of 200 $\pm$ 30 nm/RIU with a loaded quality factor of 1.5 $\times$ 10$^4$, and a limit of detection down to (1.3 $\pm$ 0.1) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ RIU.