Microfluidic–nanophotonic sensor for on-chip analysis of complex refractive index

Abstract

Photonic biosensors based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and microfluidic channels (MFCs) have become the subject of intensive research for point-of-care (POC) device applications. In the presented work, we demonstrate the possibility of identifying the complex refractive index (RI) of analyzed liquids through the optimization of the geometry configuration of MFCs under PICs by experimental and numerical approaches. Our results suggest that the real and imaginary parts of the RI for analytes under study can be determined from spectrum of devices with optimized MFCs width. This work paves the way for promising opportunities to identify the presence and concentration of biological markers by using RI sensors for in situ POC applications.