Open Access“Optical tentacle” of suspended polymer micro-rings on a multicore fiber facet for vapor sensing
Author(s) -
Qiaoqiao Liu,
Yuxin Zhan,
Siyao Zhang,
Shengfei Feng,
Xinke Wang,
Wenfeng Sun,
Jiasheng Ye,
Yan Zhang
Publication year - 2020
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.390145
Subject(s) - materials science , waveguide , facet (psychology) , lithography , optics , optical fiber , tentacle (botany) , optoelectronics , core (optical fiber) , photonics , physics , medicine , psychology , social psychology , personality , anatomy , composite material , big five personality traits
We designed a new type of gas sensor, an optical tentacle, made of highly integrated polymer micro-ring resonators in three-dimensional space on the tiny end-facet of a multicore optical fiber. Two pairs of three polymer micro-ring resonators were hung symmetrically on both sides of three suspended micro-waveguides as the sensing units. The micro-waveguides interlace to form a three-layer nested configuration, which makes the multicore optical fiber a "tentacle" for vapors of volatile organic compounds. Both experiments and theoretical simulation confirmed that the symmetrical coupling of multiple pairs of rings with the micro-waveguide had better resonance than the single ring setup. This is because the symmetrical light modes in the waveguides couple with the rings separately. All the optical micro-components were fabricated by the two-photon lithography technology on the end facet of multicore optical fiber. The optical tentacle shows good sensitivity and reversibility. This approach can also be adopted for sensor array design on a chip. Furthermore, optical sensors that can sense vapors with multiple constituents may be achieved in the future by adding selective sensitive materials to or on the surface of the rings.