WMS-based near-infrared on-chip acetylene sensor using polymeric SU8 Archimedean spiral waveguide with Euler S-bend.

SU8 is a cost-effective polymer material that is highly suitable for large-scale fabrication of waveguides. However, it has not been employed for on-chip gas measurement utilizing infrared absorption spectroscopy. In this study, we propose a near-infrared on-chip acetylene (C2H2) sensor using SU8 polymer spiral waveguides for the first time to our knowledge. The performance of the sensor based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) was experimentally validated. By incorporating the proposed Euler-S bend and Archimedean spiral SU8 waveguide, we achieved a reduction in the sensor's size by over fifty percent. Leveraging the WMS technique, we evaluated the C2H2 sensing performance at 1532.83 nm for SU8 waveguides of lengths 7.4 cm and 13 cm. The limit of detection (LoD) values were 2197.1 ppm (parts per million) and 425.5 ppm, respectively, with an averaging time of 0.2 s. Furthermore, the experimentally obtained optical power confinement factor (PCF) closely approximated the simulated value, with a value of 0.0172 compared to the simulated value of 0.016. The waveguide loss is measured to be 3 dB/cm. The rise time and fall time were approximately 2.05 s and 3.27 s, respectively. This study concludes that the SU8 waveguide exhibits significant potential for high-performance on-chip gas sensing in the near-infrared wavelength range.