Microring resonator based on polarization multiplexing for simultaneous sensing of refractive index and temperature on silicon platform

Abstract

Silicon photonic integrated sensors based on microring resonators are a promising candidate to achieve high-performance on-chip sensing. In this work, a novel dual-parameters sensor based on polarization multiplexing on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform is proposed and demonstrated experimentally, simultaneously achieving refractive index (RI) and temperature sensing with high sensitivity and large detection range (DR). The experimental results show that the RI sensitivity and temperature sensitivity of the TM-operated sensor are 489.3 nm/RIU and 20.0 pm/°C, respectively, and that of the TE-operated sensor are 102.6 nm/RIU and 43.3 pm/°C, respectively. Moreover, the DR of the fabricated sensor is 0.0296 RIU, which is 4.2 times that of the conventional TM-operated sensor based on the microring resonator. The dual-parameters sensor based on polarization multiplexing can successfully realize the simultaneous measurement of the RI and the temperature, showing potential applications of silicon photonic on-chip sensors in reality.