Ultrasensitive Silicon Photonic Refractive Index Sensor Based on Hybrid Double Slot Subwavelength Grating Microring Resonator

Abstract

Silicon photonic-based refractive index sensors are of great value in the detection of gases, biological and chemical substances. Among them, microring resonators are the most promising due to their compact size and narrow Lorentzian-shaped spectrum. The electric field in a subwavelength grating waveguide (SWG) is essentially confined in the low-refractive index dielectric, favoring enhanced analyte-photon interactions, which represents higher sensitivity. However, it is very challenging to further significantly improve the sensitivity of SWG ring resonator refractive index sensors. Here, a hybrid waveguide blocks double slot subwavelength grating microring resonator (HDSSWG-MRR) refractive index sensor operating in a water refractive index environment is proposed. By designing a new waveguide structure, a sensitivity of up to 1005 nm/RIU has been achieved, which is 182 nm/RIU higher than the currently highest sensitivity silicon photonic micro ring refractive index sensor. Meanwhile, utilizing a unique waveguide structure, a Q of 22,429 was achieved and a low limit of detection of 6.86 × 10−5 RIU was calculated.