Sensor properties of planar waveguide structures with grating couplers

The paper presents the results of theoretical analysis as well as the results of experimental research involving planar sensor structures with input grating couplers of the period Λ = 800 nm. In the theoretical part of the paper we discussed the influence of the parameters of a sensor structure on it sensitivities. The experimental part of the work presents the results of experimental research involving the influence of refractive index of the cover on the coupling characteristics of sensor structures with grating couplers. The full widths at half maximum (FWHM) were from 0.023° to 0.029°. For the investigated structures we estimated detection thresholds for the changes of refractive index of the cover and the changes of sensitive film thickness. It has been demonstrated that by the application of the elaborated structures we can detect minimal changes of the refractive index (Δn_c)_min = 2.1×10⁻⁶ when the refractive index of the cover n_c = 1.333 and (Δn_c)_min = 1.0×10⁻⁶ when n_c = 1515. For sensitive films of the thickness w < 100 nm, by using the elaborated structures, we can detect mean changes of the thickness along the values lower than 10⁻³ nm.