High-sensitivity silicon nitride microring resonator opto-fluidic sensor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a scalable silicon nitride microring resonator sensor with high sensitivity for detecting low-concentration analytes in liquids, suitable for environmental and bio-sensing applications.

Contribution

It introduces a high-sensitivity, scalable photonic sensor platform using silicon nitride microring resonators for refractometric sensing in liquids.

Findings

Achieved a mean sensitivity of 579 nm/RIU in the C-band.

Demonstrated compatibility with surface functionalisation for recognition markers.

Validated performance with liquid samples in a foundry-fabricated device.

Abstract

Photonic integrated circuit devices can be used as refractometric opto-fluidic sensors to detect the presence of analytes in solution at low concentrations. In this work, we investigate the refractive index sensitivity of silicon nitride microring resonator based photonic integrated circuit fluidic sensors. The performance of a foundry fabricated sensor is measured over the C-band in the presence of liquid samples achieving a mean sensitivity of 579 nanometres per refractive index unit. This demonstration of a scalable, high-sensitivity opto-fluidic sensor, compatible with recognition marker surface functionalisation, opens the way to applications in environmental and bio-sensing.