| Info. | Vol.3 - No.2 (2009.06.20) |
|---|---|
| Title | The Evanescent Wave Birefringence Change in a Polymer Optical Waveguide with High Refractive Index Layers of Nanometer Scale Thickness for Optical Sensing |
| Authors | Geun-Sik Son1, Woo-Kyung Kim2, Han-Young Lee2, Soon Sup Park2, Sang-Shin Lee1, Soon-Woo Kwon3, Bong Hyun Chung4,5, Eun-Cheol Lee6,7, Jin-Won Park6,7, Junhong Min6,7 & Heongkyu Ju 6,7 |
| Institutions | 1Department of Electronic Engineering, Kwangwoon University 447-1, Seoul 139-701, Korea 2Nano Bio Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do 463-816, Korea 3School of Advanced Materials Science & Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea 4BioNanotechnology Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon 305-600, Korea 5Nanobiotechnology, School of Engineering, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 305-333, Korea 6College of Bionano Technology, Kyungwon University, Gyeonggi-do 461-701, Korea 7Gachon Bionano Research Institute, Kyungwon University, Gyeonggi-do 461-701, Korea Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to H. Ju (batu@kyungwon.ac.kr) |
| Abstract | We investigate the optical birefringence properties of evanescent field excited in the polymer waveguide where local engineering of refractive index is applied for evanescent mode enhancement for optical sensor purpose. Additional cladding layers of nanometer scale thickness comprising high index materials such as TiO2, SiO2 and their combination are deposited to enhance the evanescent mode interaction with the analyte solution on the waveguide sensing surface. We perform the measurement of the time-dependent polarization change caused by analyte solution injection and demonstrated that the device differential sensitivity stemming from analyte-induced birefringence change increases with increasing evanescent mode interaction with analyte. It is also seen that the analyte layer formation over a long term period can induce an additional birefringence change even in the case of no concentration change of analyte solution. The temporal response of evanescent mode birefringence change is also discussed using the different types of analyte solutions for the cases of deposition of various high-index materials on the waveguide. |
| Keyword | Optical sensing, Evanescent wave, Optical polarization, Refractive index, Nanometer thickness cladding |
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