论文信息 - On-chip integrated mid-infrared GaAs/AlGaAs Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

On-chip integrated mid-infrared GaAs/AlGaAs Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

We report the design, fabrication, and first functional verification of mid-infrared (MIR; 3-12 μm) Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs). The developed MIR-MZIs are entirely chip-integrated solid-state devices based on GaAs/AlGaAs technology waveguide fabricated via conventional optical lithography and reactive ion etching (RIE). Thus, fabricated MIR-MZIs were combined with a broadly tunable quantum cascade laser (tQCL) providing a wavelength coverage of 5.78-6.35 μm. MIR-MZIs have been designed with a waveguide width of 5 μm to ensure single mode behavior, avoiding optically undefined interference patterns. Several structures with different opening angles of the Y-junction were fabricated and tested for maximizing IR radiation throughput. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the very first chip-integrated mid-infrared Mach-Zehnder structures via interference patterns produced by minute amounts of water deposited at different positions of the MIR-MZI structure.

[1] Michael Jetter,et al. Ultra-sensitive mid-infrared evanescent field sensors combining thin-film strip waveguides with quantum cascade lasers. , 2012, The Analyst.

[2] B. Mizaikoff,et al. Simultaneous quantitative determination of benzene, toluene, and xylenes in water using mid-infrared evanescent field spectroscopy. , 2004, Analytical chemistry.

[3] C Gmachl,et al. Silver halide fiber-based evanescent-wave liquid droplet sensing with room temperature mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers. , 2005, Optics express.

[4] L. Lechuga,et al. An integrated optical interferometric nanodevice based on silicon technology for biosensor applications , 2003 .

[5] Laura M. Lechuga,et al. Microfluidic-optical integrated CMOS compatible devices for label-free biochemical sensing , 2006 .

[6] Marcella Giovannini,et al. Fabrication and characterization of molecular beam epitaxy grown thin-film GaAs waveguides for mid-infrared evanescent field chemical sensing. , 2006, Analytical chemistry.

[7] Timothy Day,et al. External cavity widely tunable quantum cascade laser based hollow waveguide gas sensors for multianalyte detection , 2009 .

[8] Laura M. Lechuga,et al. Integrated micro- and nano-optical biosensor silicon devices CMOS compatible , 2004, SPIE OPTO.

[9] Jan Ingenhoff,et al. Biosensors using integrated optical devices , 1993 .

[10] Boris Mizaikoff,et al. Mid-IR fiber-optic sensors. , 2003, Analytical chemistry.