Disclosure of Invention
Technical problem to be solved
The present invention provides an on-chip optical microcavity sensor and an optical microcavity-coupled waveguide sensing device using the same to at least partially solve the above-mentioned technical problems.
(II) technical scheme
According to one aspect of the invention, an on-chip optical microcavity sensor is provided, which comprises a U-shaped waveguide and a microcavity coupled therein, wherein two straight arms of the U-shaped waveguide are respectively coupled with the microcavity to form two coupling points, the waveguide between the two coupling points of the U-shaped waveguide is a sensing waveguide, the sensing waveguide is connected with an input waveguide of the U-shaped waveguide through one of the two coupling points and is connected with an output waveguide of the U-shaped waveguide through the other of the two coupling points; the sensing waveguide is used as a first interference arm to interact with a sensing object to be detected, and a half-cycle part of the microcavity, which is adjacent to the sensing waveguide, is used as a second interference arm and does not interact with the sensing object to be detected, so that corresponding parameters of the sensing object to be detected are obtained according to the change of the extinction ratio of the resonant mode of the microcavity, which is caused by light interference based on the first interference arm and the second interference arm, under a dissipative sensing mechanism.
In some embodiments of the invention, the microcavity is a whispering gallery mode microcavity, preferably a whispering gallery mode microring; in addition, the power coupling coefficient of the microcavity and the U-shaped waveguide is 0.45; the microcavity and the U-shaped waveguide are made of the same material, and the preferable material is silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the on-chip optical microcavity sensor further includes a protective layer disposed over the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity coupled therein, or over a location of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor other than the sensing waveguide.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the on-chip optical microcavity sensor further includes a supplemental output waveguide disposed in another half-cycle portion of the microcavity that is not adjacent to the sensing waveguide, the straight arm of the supplemental output waveguide being coupled to the microcavity; the protective layer is disposed over the additional output waveguide, the U-shaped waveguide, and the microcavity coupled therein.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device, comprising: a light source; the input end of the optical fiber polarization controller is connected with the output end of the light source; in the above-described on-chip optical microcavity sensor not including the additional output waveguide according to the embodiment of the present invention, an input end of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor is connected to an output end of the optical fiber polarization controller; and the input end of the optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is connected with the output end of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and displays an optical power spectral line representing the fluctuation of the resonance peak.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the light source is a tunable laser, the optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a combination of a photodetector and an oscilloscope, an input end of the photodetector is connected to an output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the oscilloscope is connected to the photodetector to display a transmission optical power spectral line of a photocurrent output by the photodetector; or the light source is a wide-spectrum light source, the optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a spectrometer, the input end of the spectrometer is connected with the output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the spectrometer displays and transmits the optical power spectral line.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device, comprising: a light source; the input end of the optical fiber polarization controller is connected with the output end of the light source; the input end of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor including the additional output waveguide according to the embodiment of the invention is connected with the output end of the optical fiber polarization controller; the input end of the first optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is connected with the output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the input end of the second optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is connected with the additional output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor to display the optical power spectral line representing the fluctuation of the resonance peak.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the light source is a tunable laser, the first optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a first combination mechanism of a first photodetector and a first oscilloscope, the second optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a second combination mechanism of a second photodetector and a second oscilloscope, an input end of the first photodetector is connected to an output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the first oscilloscope is connected to the first photodetector to display a transmission optical power spectral line of a photocurrent output by the first photodetector; the input end of the second photoelectric detector is connected with the additional output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the second oscilloscope is connected with the second photoelectric detector to display the intracavity optical power spectral line of the photocurrent output by the second photoelectric detector; or the light source is a wide-spectrum light source, the first optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a first spectrometer, the second optical signal processing and displaying mechanism is a second spectrometer, the input end of the first spectrometer is connected with the output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the first spectrometer displays the transmission optical power spectral line; the input end of the second spectrometer is connected with the additional output waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, and the second spectrometer displays the optical power spectral line in the cavity.
(III) advantageous effects
According to the technical scheme, the on-chip optical microcavity sensor and the optical microcavity coupling waveguide sensing device using the same have at least one or part of the following beneficial effects:
(1) the invention is based on a dissipative sensing mechanism and measures the change of the extinction ratio of the resonant mode, thereby avoiding the influence of the frequency noise of the laser on the measurement result under the traditional dispersion sensing mechanism in principle and obtaining lower detection limit;
(2) in the invention, the change of the line width and the extinction ratio of the resonance mode on the output optical power spectral line is caused based on the phase change of the sensing waveguide, and further, the information related to a dispersion sensing mechanism can be obtained through analysis and processing. Thus, sensing measurements can be made using the optical microcavity sensor on the dissipative sheet to obtain parameters relevant to dispersion sensing measurements by analytical processing;
(3) the sensing waveguide is used as a first interference arm to interact with a sensing object to be detected, and the half-cycle part of the microcavity, which is adjacent to the sensing waveguide, is used as a second interference arm to not interact with the sensing object to be detected, so that the structure is different from the structure of the traditional dissipative sensing mechanism, and is not limited by the situation of near-field interaction with an analyte, so that the sensing waveguide can be suitable for measuring other parameters such as temperature and stress, and has a wider application range;
(4) the sensing waveguide is used as a sensing part, and the microcavity does not directly contact with an analyte, so that the microcavity is not polluted, the quality factor of the microcavity is not reduced, and the sensor chip can be repeatedly used for many times.
Detailed Description
The invention provides an on-chip optical microcavity sensor and an optical microcavity coupling waveguide sensing device using the same, wherein the on-chip optical microcavity sensor adopts a sensing waveguide (namely, a waveguide interacting with a sensing object to be sensed) in a coupling combination body formed by an on-chip U-shaped waveguide and an on-chip microcavity coupled in the on-chip U-shaped waveguide, but not the microcavity, to measure the change of the external environment of the coupling combination body, and the like, so that under a dissipative sensing mechanism, corresponding parameters of the sensing object to be sensed are obtained according to the change of a resonant mode extinction ratio, the defect that the detection limit is limited by the noise of a laser is completely eliminated, the limit of the near-field interaction situation is eliminated, the worry that the microcavity is polluted is avoided, and the purposes of wide application range, excellent performance, high durability, low cost and the like are achieved.
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings.
In a specific embodiment of the present invention, an optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device is provided. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device of the present invention comprises: the device comprises a tunable laser 1, an optical fiber polarization controller 2, a sensor chip 3 (also called an on-chip optical microcavity sensor 3), a photoelectric detector 4 and an oscilloscope 5. The output end of the tunable laser 1 is connected with the input end of the optical fiber polarization controller 2, the output end of the optical fiber polarization controller 2 is connected with the input end of the sensor chip 3, the output end of the sensor chip 3 is connected with the input end of the photoelectric detector 4, and the photocurrent output by the output end of the photoelectric detector 4 is transmitted to the oscilloscope 5 through a lead. Specifically, light output by the tunable laser 1 is controlled in the polarization direction by the optical fiber polarization controller 2, so that light with the consistent polarization direction enters the sensor chip 3 under a specific condition, the light interacts with a sensing object to be measured at a specific part of the sensor chip 3, the light carrying interaction information is converted into photocurrent by the photoelectric detector 4, an oscilloscope 5 displays the optical power spectral line of the photocurrent, and the optical power spectral line obtains corresponding line width and extinction ratio information to obtain characteristic parameters of the sensing measuring object, so that effective sensing measurement of the sensor chip is realized. In addition, in the sensing measurement, by scanning the wavelength by the tunable laser 1, the optical power spectrum at the selected wavelength band can be obtained.
In detail, the sensor chip 3, i.e., the on-chip optical microcavity sensor 3, as shown in fig. 2, includes a whispering gallery mode microcavity 6 (also referred to herein simply as "microcavity 6") and a U-shaped waveguide having an input waveguide 7, a sensing waveguide 8, and an output waveguide 9. The microcavity 6 and the U-shaped waveguide are located on the same plane on the substrate (not shown), the microcavity 6 and the U-shaped waveguide are directly coupled to each other, the coupling points are located at the coupling positions of the indicating line of reference numeral 7 between the straight arm of the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity, and the indicating line of reference numeral 9 between the straight arm of the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity, that is, the coupling position of the indicating line of reference numeral 7 is the connection point of the input waveguide 7 and the sensing waveguide 8, the coupling position of the indicating line of reference numeral 9 is the connection point of the output waveguide 9 and the sensing waveguide 8, in other words, the coupling positions of the straight arm of the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity are the connection point of the input waveguide 7 and the sensing waveguide 8, and the connection point of the output waveguide 9 and the sensing waveguide 8, respectively.
Thus, the light output by the tuned laser 1 has the same polarization direction through the polarization control of the fiber polarization controller 2, so that the light having the same polarization direction is primarily coupled at the coupling position of the input waveguide 7 and the microcavity 6 under the condition that the frequency of the light is close to the resonance frequency of the microcavity 6, a part of the primarily coupled light enters the microcavity 6 of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor 3 and the other part of the primarily coupled light travels along the sensing waveguide 8 connected to the input waveguide 7, and further a part of the light is continuously totally reflected at the intracavity surface of the half-perimeter path of the microcavity 6 to be coherently superposed to form a resonance mode, and the secondarily coupled light is secondarily coupled at the coupling position of the output waveguide 9 and the microcavity 6 in a counterclockwise propagation manner with the other part of the light propagating counterclockwise along the sensing waveguide 8 for interacting with the sensing object to be measured, so that the secondarily coupled light carries interaction information and is converted into photocurrent through the photodetector 4, the light power spectral line of the photocurrent is displayed by the oscilloscope 5 to process and obtain the characteristic parameter of the sensing measurement object. In addition, the optical microcavity coupling waveguide sensing device of this embodiment mainly has two typical situations according to the difference of the interaction types between the sensing waveguide of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor and the sensing object to be measured: one is temperature sensing measurement based on thermo-optic effect; the other is nanoparticle detection based on near-field interaction, and the like, which is specifically as follows:
as shown in fig. 3, a micro-heater 10 is placed above the sensing waveguide 8, the shape of which is approximately consistent with that of the sensing waveguide 8 to make the thermal effect of the sensing waveguide 8 more sufficient, the micro-heater 10 changes the amount of heat emitted from the sensing waveguide 8 by changing the applied electric power of the micro-heater 10, so that the temperature of the sensing waveguide 8 itself and the outside thereof changes, and further the effective refractive index of the sensing waveguide 8 changes based on the change of the temperature, thereby realizing phase modulation of the primary coupled light transmitted in the sensing waveguide 8 by the change of the refractive index of the material of the sensing waveguide 8, so that the primary coupled light phase-modulated by the sensing waveguide 8 (i.e., the first interference arm) functioning as the interference arm is secondarily coupled with the primary coupled light of the resonance mode formed by the cavity inner surface of the half-circumference portion (i.e., the second interference arm) of the microcavity 6 at the coupling position of the output waveguide and the microcavity, the line width and extinction ratio of the resonance mode are changed by the secondary coupling, and such information carrying the interaction between the sensing waveguide and the sensing object to be measured (the external environment of the sensing waveguide) is displayed as an optical power spectrum (a power spectrum of resonance peak fluctuation) in a selected wavelength band by the oscilloscope 5 via the photodetector 4, and on the basis of the optical power spectrum, parameters of waveguide refractive index, environment temperature and the like which are effectively sensed and measured are obtained by corresponding analysis processing.
In the second case, instead of placing a micro-heater above, the top of the sensing waveguide 8 is completely exposed to the outside environment. At this time, a protective layer is provided on the other part of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor 3 except the sensing waveguide 8 using silicon oxide or the like, and a microchannel or a group of micro-nano particles is provided above the on-chip microcavity sensor 3 except for the position where the protective layer is provided, so that the external environment of the sensing waveguide 8 changes or the micro-nano particles are adhered to the surface of the sensing waveguide 8, and thus the effective refractive index of the sensing waveguide 8 changes based on the change of the external environment, and thus as in the first case described above with reference to fig. 3, the phase modulation of light transmitted through the sensing waveguide is realized by the change of the effective refractive index of the material of the sensing waveguide, so that the line width and extinction ratio of the resonance mode are changed, and thus the corresponding parameters of the micro-nano particles are obtained through analysis processing according to the change of the.
It should be noted that the coupling between the microcavity 6 and the U-shaped waveguide in this embodiment is near-field coupling, and in order to ensure the effective coupling, conditions such as the distance between them and phase matching should be considered. For example, in the present embodiment, the distance between the straight arm of the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity is adjusted so that a part of light having a frequency close to the resonance frequency of the microcavity enters the microcavity; in order to eliminate the disadvantage of phase matching only in a narrow spectral range caused by different materials and geometric dispersion of the waveguide and the microcavity, the U-shaped waveguide and the microcavity are made of the same material in this embodiment, for example, polymer, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or other optical waveguide materials; in order to take into account the optimum values of both sensitivity and detection limit, experimental results show that the power coupling coefficient k between the microcavity and the waveguide is preferably 0.45, and generally, the influence factors of the power coupling coefficient k mainly include the size of the microcavity and the distance between the microcavity and the waveguide.
As a specific embodiment, the substrate for forming the microcavity 6 and the U-shaped waveguide may be a common silicon wafer. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the type of material of the substrate is not limited thereto as long as the microcavity and the waveguide can be formed thereon by etching.
In addition, the microcavity 6 is preferably a whispering gallery mode microring; the connection of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor 3 with the optical fiber polarization controller 2 and the electro-optical detector 4 can be achieved through optical fibers, and preferably, the connection based on the optical fibers is packaged through ultraviolet curing glue.
Of course, according to actual needs, considering the relationship between the power coupling coefficient k and its influence factors (the microcavity size, the distance between the microcavity and the waveguide), the relationship between the length of the sensing waveguide and the optical power density in the waveguide and the corresponding phase change, etc., the tradeoff among the microcavity size, the distance between the microcavity and the waveguide, the length of the sensing waveguide (the length between two coupling points), etc., should be made, and this is not directly related to the innovation of the present invention, and is not described herein again.
So far, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that, in the attached drawings or in the description, the implementation modes not shown or described are all the modes known by the ordinary skilled person in the field of technology, and are not described in detail. Furthermore, the above definitions of the various elements and methods are not limited to the particular structures, shapes or arrangements of parts mentioned in the examples, which may be easily modified or substituted by one of ordinary skill in the art, for example:
(1) the integrally formed U-shaped waveguide can also be in a combined waveguide form obtained by respectively and individually forming an input waveguide, a sensing waveguide and an output waveguide;
(2) the tunable laser 1 in the optical microcavity coupling waveguide sensing device can be replaced by a wide-spectrum light source 13, as shown in fig. 4, and accordingly, a spectrometer 12 is used to replace the photodetector 4 and the oscilloscope 5 as an optical signal processing and displaying mechanism, that is, the input end of the spectrometer 12 is connected to the output end of the output waveguide 9. Thus, by selecting the spectral width of the wide-spectrum light source 13, the optical power spectrum line at the selected wavelength band can be obtained without extra scanning (such as wavelength scanning of a tunable laser);
(3) as a modification (also referred to as another modification) of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor, the on-chip optical microcavity sensor may further include an additional output waveguide 11 in another half-circumference portion of the microcavity 6 (see fig. 5, the left half-circumference portion of the microcavity 6) that is not adjacent to the sensing waveguide 8, the additional output waveguide 11 and the other half-circumference portion of the microcavity are also directly coupled to each other, and an indicator line denoted by reference numeral 11 is at a coupling position of the straight arm of the additional output waveguide and the microcavity.
Thus, in place of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor in the optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 1, in another modification of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor shown in fig. 5, the tunable laser 1 is used as the light source, and accordingly, as shown in fig. 6, the photodetector 4 and the oscilloscope 5 are connected to the output end of the additional output waveguide 11, so that, under the above-described specific conditions, the light that is once coupled to the microcavity 6 at the input waveguide 7 enters the microcavity 6 of the sensor chip 3, and a part of the light travels along the sensing waveguide 8 connected to the input waveguide 7, and further, the light is continuously totally reflected at the cavity inner surface of the half-circumference path of the half-circumference portion of the microcavity 6 adjacent to the sensing waveguide 7, and is coherently superimposed to form a resonance mode propagating counterclockwise at the coupling position of the output waveguide 9 and the microcavity 6 and the sensing waveguide 8 for interacting with the sensing object to be measured And the other part of the secondary coupled light carrying the interaction information displays a transmission light power spectral line through the photoelectric detector 4 and the oscilloscope 5 which are connected with the output waveguide 9, and the other part of the secondary coupled light displays an intra-cavity light power spectral line through the photoelectric detector 4 and the oscilloscope 5 which are connected with the additional output waveguide 11, so that corresponding line width and extinction ratio information with low background noise can be obtained according to the comparison result of the transmission light power spectral line and the intra-cavity light power spectral line, and the accurate characteristic parameter of the sensing measurement object can be obtained.
In addition, in place of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor in the modification of the optical microcavity coupled waveguide sensing device according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in fig. 4, another modification of the on-chip optical microcavity sensor shown in fig. 5 is used, and as shown in fig. 7, a wide-spectrum light source 13 is used as a light source, and spectrometers 12 are connected to the output ends of the output waveguide 9 and the additional output waveguide 11, respectively; correspondingly, the secondarily coupled light carrying the information of the interaction with the sensing object to be measured has one part displaying the transmission light power spectral line through the spectrometer 12 connected with the output waveguide 9 and the other part displaying the cavity light power spectral line through the spectrometer 12 connected with the additional output waveguide 11, and similarly, according to the comparison result of the transmission light power spectral line and the cavity light power spectral line, the corresponding line width and extinction ratio information with low background noise can be obtained to obtain the accurate characteristic parameter of the sensing measuring object.
(4) The planar coupling of the microcavity with the U-shaped waveguide and the additional output waveguide may be replaced by vertical coupling.
From the above description, those skilled in the art should clearly understand the novel on-chip optical microcavity sensor and its modified examples, and the optical microcavity-coupled waveguide sensing device and its modified examples using the same.
In summary, the present invention provides a novel on-chip optical microcavity sensor under a dissipative sensing mechanism and an optical microcavity-coupled waveguide sensing device using the same. According to the fluctuation of a resonance peak based on the sensing waveguide under a specific wave band, namely the change of the line width and the extinction ratio of a resonance mode, the corresponding parameters of the sensing object are obtained through analysis and processing, the sensor can be repeatedly utilized, the sensing object to be measured can be accurately measured, and therefore the method can be widely applied to the fields of biosensing, temperature sensing, mechanical sensing and the like.
It should also be noted that the shapes and sizes of the respective components in the drawings do not reflect actual sizes and proportions, but merely illustrate the contents of the embodiments of the present invention.
Unless otherwise indicated, the numerical parameters set forth in the specification and attached claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention. In particular, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, reaction conditions, and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term "about". Generally, the expression is meant to encompass variations of ± 10% in some embodiments, 5% in some embodiments, 1% in some embodiments, 0.5% in some embodiments by the specified amount.
The above-mentioned embodiments are intended to illustrate the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention in further detail, and it should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiments are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.