Optimized silicon antiresonant reflecting optical waveguides forsensing applications

The development of an evanescent field sensor with an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometric (MZI) configuration requires the fabrication of optical waveguides with two main characteristics: (1) monomode behavior and (2) high surface sensitivity for sensing biomolecular interactions in a direct way (without labels). In this paper, we present an experimental study for the optimization of the different parameters of the waveguides that will be the basis of a highly sensitive optical sensor. After optimization, an MZI sensor has been fabricated and some sensing applications are shown. The designed waveguides are based on antiresonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) structures and are fabricated with standard silicon technology