Sub-ppm Methane Detection with Mid-Infrared Slot Waveguides.

Hybrid integration of photonic chips with electronic and micromechanical circuits is projected to bring about miniature, but still highly accurate and reliable, laser spectroscopic sensors for both climate research and industrial applications. However, the sensitivity of chip-scale devices has been limited by immature and lossy photonic waveguides, weak light-analyte interaction, and etalon effects from chip facets and defects. Addressing these challenges, we present a nanophotonic waveguide for methane detection at 3270.4 nm delivering a limit of detection of 0.3 ppm, over 2 orders of magnitude lower than the state-of-the-art of on-chip spectroscopy. We achieved this result with a Si slot waveguide designed to maximize the light-analyte interaction, while special double-tip fork couplers at waveguide facets suppress spurious etalon fringes. We also study and discuss the effect of adsorbed humidity on the performance of mid-infrared waveguides around 3 µm, which has been repeatedly overlooked in previous reports.

Integrated Nanophotonic Waveguide-Based Devices for IR and Raman Gas Spectroscopy.

On-chip devices for absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy have been developing rapidly in the last few years, triggered by the growing availability of compact and affordable tunable lasers, detectors, and on-chip spectrometers. Material processing that is compatible with mass production has been proven to be capable of long low-loss waveguides of sophisticated designs, which are indispensable for high-light-analyte interactions. Sensitivity and selectivity have been further improved by the development of sorbent cladding. In this review, we discuss the latest advances and challenges in the field of waveguide-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (WERS) and waveguide infrared absorption spectroscopy (WIRAS). The development of integrated light sources and detectors toward miniaturization will be presented, together with the recent advances on waveguides and cladding to improve sensitivity. The latest reports on gas-sensing applications and main configurations for WERS and WIRAS will be described, and the most relevant figures of merit and limitations of different sensor realizations summarized.

Extraordinary evanescent field confinement waveguide sensor for mid-infrared trace gas spectroscopy.

Nanophotonic waveguides are at the core of a great variety of optical sensors. These structures confine light along defined paths on photonic chips and provide light-matter interaction via an evanescent field. However, waveguides still lag behind free-space optics for sensitivity-critical applications such as trace gas detection. Short optical pathlengths, low interaction strengths, and spurious etalon fringes in spectral transmission are among the main reasons why on-chip gas sensing is still in its infancy. In this work, we report on a mid-infrared integrated waveguide sensor that successfully addresses these drawbacks. This sensor operates with a 107% evanescent field confinement factor in air, which not only matches but also outperforms free-space beams in terms of the per-length optical interaction. Furthermore, negligible facet reflections result in a flat spectral background and record-low absorbance noise that can finally compete with free-space spectroscopy. The sensor performance was validated at 2.566 µm, which showed a 7 ppm detection limit for acetylene with only a 2 cm long waveguide.

Highly Selective Volatile Organic Compounds Breath Analysis Using a Broadly-Tunable Vertical-External-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser.

A broadly tunable mid-infrared vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) is employed in a direct absorption laser spectroscopic setup to measure breath acetone. The large wavelength coverage of more than 30 cm-1 at 3.38 µm allows, in addition to acetone, the simultaneous measurement of isoprene, ethanol, methanol, methane, and water. Despite the severe spectral interferences from water and alcohols, an unambiguous determination of acetone is demonstrated with a precision of 13 ppbv that is achieved after 5 min averaging at typical breath mean acetone levels in synthetic gas samples mimicking human breath.

Circular paraboloid reflection cell for laser spectroscopic trace gas analysis.

Absorption cells with circular geometry are a class of multipass reflection cells consisting of a single, circular mirror. They can be particularly favorable for trace gas measurements because of their mechanical robustness, simplicity, and their optical versatility. In this article, we present detailed theoretical considerations and ray tracing simulations for the optimization of the optical design of circular multipass reflection cells. A parabolic mirror shape in a confocal arrangement is found to be most suitable for long optical paths in a small volume. We experimentally demonstrate more than 12 m optical path in a 14.5 cm diameter gas cell and NO2 concentration measurements in ambient air with a measurement precision better than 0.1 ppb.

Sensitive on-chip methane detection with a cryptophane-A cladded Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

We report a methane sensor based on an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer, which is cladded by a styrene-acrylonitrile film incorporating cryptophane-A. Cryptophane-A is a supramolecular compound able to selectively trap methane, and its presence in the cladding leads to a 17-fold sensitivity enhancement. Our approach, based on 3 cm-long low-loss Si3N4 rib waveguides, results in a detection limit as low as 17 ppm. This is 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than typically achieved with chip-scale low-cost sensors.

Simultaneous measurement of NO and NO(2) by dual-wavelength quantum cascade laser spectroscopy.

The concept of a multi-wavelength quantum cascade laser emitting at two or more spectrally well-separated wavelengths is highly appealing for applied spectroscopy, as it allows detecting several species with compact and cost-efficient optical setups. Here we present a practical realization of such a dual-wavelength setup, which is based on a room-temperature quantum cascade laser emitting single-mode at 1600 cm-1 and 1900 cm-1 and is thus well-suited for simultaneous NO and NO2 detection. Operated in a time-division multiplexed mode, our spectrometer reaches detection limits of 0.5 and 1.5 ppb for NO2 and NO, respectively. The performance of the system is validated against the well-established chemiluminescence detection while measuring the NOx emissions on an automotive test-bench, as well as upon monitoring the pollution at a suburban site.

Highly sensitive and fast detection of propane-butane using a 3 µm quantum cascade laser.

A mid-IR optical analyzer based on a 3 µm Fabry-Perot quantum cascade laser has been developed for ultrafast detection of aerosol propellants, such as propane and butane. Given the laser emission bandwidth of 35 cm(-1), the system is spectrally well-matched to the C-H vibrational band of hydrocarbons, it is insusceptible to water interference, and stable enough to operate without wavelength scanning. Thus, it offers both high sensitivity and speed, reaching 1 ppm precision within a measurement time of 10 ms. The performance of the instrument is evaluated with an industrial demonstrator for aerosol cans leak testing, confirming that, in compliance with international directives, it can detect leaks of 1.2×10(-4) slpm at a rate of 500 cans per minute.

Refractive index sensing with an air-slot photonic crystal nanocavity.

We investigate an air-slot photonic crystal cavity for high-precision refractive index sensing. The high quality factor approximately 2.6x10(4) of the cavity, along with a strong overlap between the resonant mode and the hollow core region, allows us to achieve an experimental sensitivity of 510nm per refractive index unit (RUI) and a detection limit below 1x10(-5)RUI. The device has a remarkably low sensing volume of 40aliters, holding less than 1x10(6)molecules.

Off-chip beam steering with a one-dimensional optical phased array on silicon-on-insulator.

Optical phased arrays are versatile components enabling rapid and precise beam steering. An integrated approach is followed in which a 1D optical phased array is fabricated on silicon-on-insulator. The optical phased array consists of 16 parallel grating couplers spaced 2 mum apart. Steering in one direction is done thermo-optically by means of a titanium electrode on top of the structure using the phased array principle, while steering in the other direction is accomplished by wavelength tuning. At a wavelength of 1550 nm, continuous thermo-optical steering of 2.3 degrees and wavelength steering of 14.1 degrees is reported.

Experimental observation of slow mode dispersion in photonic crystal coupled-cavity waveguides.

We experimentally investigate the dispersion curve of an integrated silicon-on-insulator coupled-cavity waveguide in a photonic crystal environment using a technique based on far-field imaging. We show that a chain of eight coupled cavities of a moderate Q factor can form a continuous dispersion band characterized by extremely flat dispersion and a group index of 105+/-20 within a 2.6 nm wavelength range. The experimental results are well reproduced by theoretical calculations based on the guided-mode expansion method.