Enhancing the sensitivity of slow light MZI biosensors through multi-hole defects

Kun Qin; Yiliang Zhao; Shuren Hu; Sharon M. Weiss

doi:10.1117/12.2286734

20 February 2018 Enhancing the sensitivity of slow light MZI biosensors through multi-hole defects

Kun Qin, Yiliang Zhao, Shuren Hu, Sharon M. Weiss

Proceedings Volume 10510, Frontiers in Biological Detection: From Nanosensors to Systems X; 1051002 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2286734
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2018, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We demonstrate enhanced detection sensitivity of a slow light Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensor by incorporating multi-hole defects (MHDs). Slow light MZI biosensors with a one-dimensional photonic crystal in one arm have been previously shown to improve the performance of traditional MZI sensors based on the increased lightmatter interaction that takes place in the photonic crystal region of the structure. Introducing MHDs in the photonic crystal region increases the available surface area for molecular attachment and further increases the enhanced lightmatter interaction capability of slow light MZIs. The MHDs allow analyte to interact with a greater fraction of the guided wave in the MZI. For a slow light MHD MZI sensor with a 16 μm long sensing arm, a bulk sensitivity of 151,000 rad/RIU-cm is demonstrated experimentally, which is approximately two-fold higher than our previously reported slow light MZI sensors and thirteen-fold higher than traditional MZI biosensors with millimeter length sensing regions. For the label-free detection of nucleic acids, the slow light MZI with MHDs also exhibits a two-fold sensitivity improvement in experiment compared to the slow light MZI without MHDs. Because the detection sensitivity of slow light MHD MZIs scales with the length of the sensing arm, the tradeoff between detection limit and device size can be appropriately mitigated for different applications. All experimental results presented in this work are in good agreement with finite difference-time domain-calculations. Overall, the slow light MZI biosensors with MHDs are a promising platform for highly sensitive and multiplexed lab-on-chip systems.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Kun Qin, Yiliang Zhao, Shuren Hu, and Sharon M. Weiss "Enhancing the sensitivity of slow light MZI biosensors through multi-hole defects", Proc. SPIE 10510, Frontiers in Biological Detection: From Nanosensors to Systems X, 1051002 (20 February 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2286734

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