Open AccessGuided resonances on lithium niobate for extremely small electric field detection investigated by accurate sensitivity analysis
Author(s) -
Wentao Qiu,
Abdoulaye Ndao,
Hai Lu,
Maria–Pilar Bernal,
Fadi Baida
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.24.020196
Subject(s) - lithium niobate , finite difference time domain method , optics , photonic crystal , electric field , materials science , sensitivity (control systems) , detector , physics , optoelectronics , electronic engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
We present a theoretical study of guided resonances (GR) on a thin film lithium niobate rectangular lattice photonic crystal by band diagram calculations and 3D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) transmission investigations which cover a broad range of parameters. A photonic crystal with an active zone as small as 13μm×13μm×0.7μm can be easily designed to obtain a resonance Q value in the order of 1000. These resonances are then employed in electric field (E-field) sensing applications exploiting the electro optic (EO) effect of lithium niobate. A local field factor that is calculated locally for each FDTD cell is proposed to accurately estimate the sensitivity of GR based E-field sensor. The local field factor allows well agreement between simulations and reported experimental data therefore providing a valuable method in optimizing the GR structure to obtain high sensitivities. When these resonances are associated with sub-picometer optical spectrum analyzer and high field enhancement antenna design, an E-field probe with a sensitivity of 50 μV/m could be achieved. The results of our simulations could be also exploited in other EO based applications such as EEG (Electroencephalography) or ECG (Electrocardiography) probe and E-field frequency detector with an 'invisible' probe to the field being detected etc.