Silicon-on-insulator microring resonator sensor based on an amplitude comparison sensing function.

A novel, highly sensitive integrated sensor based on a silicon-on-insulator microring resonator is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. To achieve a fast-response and cost-effective sensing system, the new structure establishes a linear amplitude comparison sensing function (ACSF) by monitoring the optical powers from both the through port and drop port of an add-drop microring resonator simultaneously, where the contrast of the two ports eliminates the effect of unexpected power fluctuation of the input laser on sensor performance. A highly enhanced linear relationship between the resonant wavelength shift and the ACSF value is achieved with an R-squared value over 0.99. A proof-of-concept experiment for temperature sensing demonstrates an almost constant ACSF with only ±0.9% discrepancy, while the laser power is varied between 0 dBm and -7  dBm.