Miniaturized spectrometers, owing to their compact dimensions, high sensitivity, and low cost, have been extensively applied in environmental monitoring, biomedical diagnostics, industrial inspection, and other fields. However, conventional miniature spectrometers often face challenges in simultaneously achieving high spectral resolution, miniaturization, and a high degree of integration. As a pivotal component in integrated optics, the Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) possesses advantages such as exceptional resolution, broad spectral bandwidth, and superior integrability, thus serving as a highly effective means for the design and realization of miniature spectrometers. Here, a highly uniform visible light arrayed waveguide grating with a central wavelength of 633nm was designed and fabricated. The device was based on a 300 nm silicon nitride platform, with the waveguide width of 300nm. The beam diverges at the input star coupler, then propagates through the arrayed waveguide, and finally converges on the image plane of the output star coupler. There are 4 output channels with a channel spacing of 10nm, and the spectral resolution is 5nm. This configuration can provide a uniform spectral output with a high stability, making it suitable for applications in the field of spectral analysis.
Current research is focused on the miniaturization and integration of detection devices for biological targets in order to adapt to outdoor and emergency field settings, as well as to enhance the flexibility and practicality of detection. This study proposes an ultra-high integrated silicon nitride fluorescence excitation chip for point-to-point excitation of biological fluorescence signals. By employing the finite-difference time-domain(FDTD) method and utilizing silicon nitride as the functional material, a visible light fluorescence excitation chip operating at the wavelength of 645nm was designed and fabricated. The chip is composed of an input grating coupler, multiple multimode interferometers, and output grating couplers. A grating array containing 2016 excitation points is constructed cascading multiple multimode interference splitters and connecting excitation gratings at the terminals. The single grating coupling efficiency of the chip is 30% with a total excitation light area of 4×4mm² and an emitted light angle of around 80 degrees. By adjusting the positions of different output grating couplers, the chip can adapt to excitation requirements at different locations, making it suitable for various applications such as fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and digital PCR. With the help of microfluidic chambers and a photodetector, the chip successfully achieved the detection limit of 0.5 µmol/L Cyanine 5(Cy5) fluorescent reagent solution, which is sufficient for direct detection of PCR fluorescence signals.
A low-loss and wideband silicon polarizing beam splitter is demonstrated with the assistance of a nano-bridge waveguide. Transverse magnetic light can be coupled to the cross port through the nano-bridge waveguide, while the transverse electric light comes out mainly from the through port. The designed device has a coupling length of 19.6 μm, which can realize an extinction ratio of 32.43 dB for TM mode or 34.23 dB for TE mode at a 1565-nm wavelength. Compared with the conventional three-waveguide coupler structure, the proposed device is based on a resonant tunneling principle, which can help to effectively improve the fabrication tolerance. The device is fabricated with a commercial CMOS processing facility, which can achieve an extinction ratio of 23.07 dB for TM or 23.46 dB for TE mode with a low excess loss, and the extinction ratio of more than 10 dB can be realized in the wavelength range from 1525 to 1610 nm for both modes. The device performance can be further improved, which would facilitate its practical applications in commercial integrated optical circuits.
Bragg hollow-core PMMA tube waveguides with varying grating structures were theoretically and experimentally investigated for the terahertz (THz) chemical material sensor applications. Compared with single-layer tube, the multi-layer Bragg cases can produce a delayed response in the time domain with an improved extinction ratio. A double tube combination consisted of a thick double-groove chirped grating tube and a thin single-groove chirped grating one can realize an improved detection sensitivity. With different extinction ratio of the measured THz spectra, ethanol and vinegar can be distinguished with a sensitivity of about 18 dB/mL. The proposed multi-layer hollow-core grating waveguide can be further applied for the THz gas sensing applications.
A compact asymmetrical directional coupler composed of 70-nm-deep shallow etched dual grating structure waveguide and a 7.4-μm long coupling length, is proposed and fabricated to realize a broadband and high-extinction-ratio polarizing beam splitter. By carefully optimizing the structural parameters, the cross-coupling for TM light can be realized while little coupling happens for TE wave, which would have a broad application prospect for silicon-based photonics.
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