{"title":"Silicon-on-insulator coupled waveguide-resonator sensor: Trade-off between sensitivity and other performance parameters","authors":"Muhammad Ali Butt","doi":"10.1016/j.optcom.2025.132115","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This work presents a novel silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-based coupled waveguide-resonator sensor integrated with a hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPWG) for refractive index sensing. Unlike conventional dielectric waveguide sensors, the proposed design incorporates a metal-dielectric HPWG segment within the resonant cavity, significantly enhancing light–matter interaction and thus improving sensitivity. This hybrid integration achieves a maximum sensitivity of 210 nm/RIU, surpassing that of standard waveguide configurations. However, this improvement comes with trade-offs in terms of reduced figure of merit (FOM), quality factor (Q-factor), and increased limit of detection (LOD), due to higher propagation losses. The study systematically analyzes and optimizes the interplay between sensitivity, FOM, Q-factor, and LOD, offering a balanced approach for high-performance photonic biosensing applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19586,"journal":{"name":"Optics Communications","volume":"591 ","pages":"Article 132115"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Optics Communications","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030401825006431","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"OPTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This work presents a novel silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-based coupled waveguide-resonator sensor integrated with a hybrid plasmonic waveguide (HPWG) for refractive index sensing. Unlike conventional dielectric waveguide sensors, the proposed design incorporates a metal-dielectric HPWG segment within the resonant cavity, significantly enhancing light–matter interaction and thus improving sensitivity. This hybrid integration achieves a maximum sensitivity of 210 nm/RIU, surpassing that of standard waveguide configurations. However, this improvement comes with trade-offs in terms of reduced figure of merit (FOM), quality factor (Q-factor), and increased limit of detection (LOD), due to higher propagation losses. The study systematically analyzes and optimizes the interplay between sensitivity, FOM, Q-factor, and LOD, offering a balanced approach for high-performance photonic biosensing applications.
期刊介绍:
Optics Communications invites original and timely contributions containing new results in various fields of optics and photonics. The journal considers theoretical and experimental research in areas ranging from the fundamental properties of light to technological applications. Topics covered include classical and quantum optics, optical physics and light-matter interactions, lasers, imaging, guided-wave optics and optical information processing. Manuscripts should offer clear evidence of novelty and significance. Papers concentrating on mathematical and computational issues, with limited connection to optics, are not suitable for publication in the Journal. Similarly, small technical advances, or papers concerned only with engineering applications or issues of materials science fall outside the journal scope.