Nanostructures have been widely applied on superhydrophobic surfaces for controlling the wetting states of liquid microdroplets. Many modern optic devices including sensors are also integrated with micro- or nanostructures for function enhancement. However, it is rarely reported that both microfluidics and optics are compatibly integrated in the same nanostructures. In this paper, a novel microfluidic-controlled tunable filter composed of an array of periodic micro/nanopillars on top of a planar waveguide is proposed and numerically simulated, in which the periodic pillars endow both the Bragg grating and the superhydrophobic functions. The tunability of grating is achieved by controlling the sagging depth of a liquid droplet into the periodic pillars. Simulation results show that a narrow bandwidth of 0.4 nm and a wide wavelength tuning range over 25 nm can be achieved by such a microfluidic-based tunable optofluidic waveguide Bragg grating filter. Moreover, this proposed scheme can be easily modified as a refractive index sensor with a sensitivity of 103 nm per refractive index unit.
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Nonvolatile tuning of Bragg structures using transparent phase-change materials
Bragg gratings offer high-performance filtering and routing of light on-chip through a periodic modulation of a waveguide’s effective refractive index. Here, we model and experimentally demonstrate the use of Sb2Se3, a nonvolatile and transparent phase-change material, to tune the resonance conditions in two devices which leverage periodic Bragg gratings—a stopband filter and Fabry-Perot cavity. Through simulations, we show that similar refractive indices between silicon and amorphous Sb2Se3can be used to induce broadband transparency, while the crystalline state can enhance the index contrast in these Bragg devices. Our experimental results show the promise and limitations of this design approach and highlight specific fabrication challenges which need to be addressed in future implementations.
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- PAR ID:
- 10541128
- Publisher / Repository:
- OPTICA Infobase
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Optical Materials Express
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2159-3930
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2700
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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