Optofluidic refractive-index sensors employing bent waveguide structures for low-cost, rapid chemical and biomedical sensing

We propose and develop an intensity-detection-based refractive-index (RI) sensor for low-cost, rapid RI sensing. The sensor is composed of a polymer bent ridge waveguide (BRWG) structure on a low-cost glass substrate and is integrated with a microfluidic channel. Different-RI solutions flowing through the BRWG sensing region induce output optical power variations caused by optical bend losses, enabling simple and real-time RI detection. Additionally, the sensors are fabricated using rapid and cost-effective vacuum-less processes, attaining the low cost and high throughput required for mass production. A good RI solution of 5.31 x 10(4) RIU-1 is achieved from the RI experiments. This study demonstrates mass-producible and compact RI sensors for rapid and sensitive chemical analysis and biomedical sensing. (c) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement