Open AccessLong-range surface plasmon triple-output Mach-Zehnder interferometers
Author(s) -
Hui Fan,
Robert Charbonneau,
Pierre Berini
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.22.004006
Subject(s) - interferometry , optics , mach–zehnder interferometer , astronomical interferometer , surface plasmon polariton , cascade , surface plasmon , dynamic range , waveguide , physics , materials science , power dividers and directional couplers , phase (matter) , plasmon , chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics
A triple-output Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) operating with long-range surface plasmon-polariton waves, consisting of a MZI in cascade with a triple coupler, is demonstrated at a wavelength of ~1370 nm, using the thermo-optic effect to produce phase shifting. A theoretical model for three-waveguide coupling is also proposed and was applied to compute the transfer characteristic of various designs. Dimensions for the device were selected to optimize performance, experiments were performed, and the results were compared to theory. The outputs were sinusoidally related to the thermally-induced phase shift and separated by ~2π/3 rad, as expected theoretically. Four detection schemes that take advantage of the 3 times larger dynamic range and suppress time-varying common perturbations are proposed and analyzed in order to improve the detection limit of the device. A minimum detectable phase shift ~2/3 that of a single output was obtained from a power difference scheme and a normalization scheme. The smallest minimum detectable phase shift was 7.3 mrad. The device is promising for sensing applications, including (bio)chemical sensing.