High sensitivity photonic crystal waveguide sensors

A theoretical investigation of the sensitivity of an optical liquid sensor, based on photonic crystal waveguide, is carried out. The sensing principle is based on the variation of the effective index of the waveguide induced by analyte refractive index change. The sensor modelling is carried out by using the 3D finite element method. The influence of geometrical parameters on the sensor sensitivity has been investigated. The results show that the sensitivity can be optimized by an appropriate choice of the geometrical parameters and a sensitivity superior to 20 has been achieved, near the cut-off in the slow light region, which is several times higher than that can be achieved with conventional waveguides.