Photonic crystal-based all-optical on-chip sensor

In this paper we demonstrate a sensor based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity structure. Design, theoretical simulations, fabrication and experiments are shown to illustrate the working principle of this device. Sensitivity of our sensor is determined by observing the shift of resonant wavelength of the photonic crystal cavity as a function of the refractive index variation of the analyte. By experimentally infiltrating solutions of water and ethanol through an elastomeric micro-fluidic channel, we have confirmed that our all-optical sensor achieves a sensitivity of 460 nm/RIU. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America