A tiny gas-sensor system based on one-dimensional photonic crystal

A.BOUZIDI1, D. BRIA1, 2, A. AKJOUJ2, Y. PENNEC2, B. DJAFARI-ROUHANI2 and A.NOUGAOUI1

1
Laboratoire de Dynamique et d’Optique des Matériaux, Département de Physique. Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohamed I, Oujda 60000, Maroc
2
Institut d'Electronique, de Micro-électronique et de Nanotechnologie(IEMN), Université de Lille1, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France

We present a gas sensor based on a one-dimensional photonic crystal formed by alternating layers of Magnesium Fluoride (MgF2) and Silicon
(Si) with an empty layer in the middle which will be filled by polluted air with refractive index varying between n 0=1.00 to n0=1.01. The
transmission spectrum of this sensor is calculated by the Green function approach. The numerical results show that the frequency of this peak
is sensitive to air-gas mixture; a small variation in the refractive index ∆n=10 -5 is detected and the sensitivity of this sensor ∆λ/∆n is achieved
with 700nm/RIU, (RIU: Refractive Index Unit), and the figure of merit is 80000.

The response of the sensor is obtained by filling the cavity with different mixtures
Description of the structure air-gas.
The figure gives the evolution of the photonic transmission as a function of the
mixture air-gas filling the central layer (n0=1.0001 to n0= 1.0005). the refractive
index variation results in a shift of the cavity resonance peak to the lower
frequencies.

A change of 10-4 of the

refractive index leads to a shift
of the reduced frequency equal
to 0.000031

A shift of the resonance

frequency is clearly visible
when the refractive index
increases with a step of 10-5

To use the sensor in the close IR

The one-dimensional photonic structure is of the form (AB)7 C (BA)7, A is the spectrum, we have fixed the
Magnesium Fluoride (MgF2) with RI n1= 1.37 and thickness d1, B is the Silicon lattice parameter of the photonic
(Si) layer with n2=3.49 and thickness d2, and C is the cavity defect layer that sensor to D= 832 nm with
will be filled by the analyte, with RI n0, and thickness d1. D=d1+d2 is the period d1=0.9D.
of the photonic crystal.
The wavelength varies linearly
with the refractive index of the
Numerical Results polluted air introduced into the
cavity.
We have shown theoretically that when a material filling the cavity is different to
the material filling the other layers creating a material defect, a defect mode refractive index relative
appears within the band gap as required for a simple sensing scheme but this to the reference material
is not valid for any thickness. can be calculated for any
To evaluate the effect of the defect layer thickness (d1 ) we present the reduced change in the
wavelength.
frequency  versus the thickness d1 for different refractive index do the cavity,
n0=1.00(black), n0=1.0001(red), n0=1.001(green), n0=1.01(blue). The shaded
and white area, respectively, correspond to bands and gaps of the infinite 1D
Q factor is about 150 000, and the figure of
photonic crystal. . merit is 80000
The Sensitivity is achieved with 700nm/RIU

Conclusion
We have shown that one-dimensional photonic crystal formed by alternating
layers of Magnesium Fluoride (MgF2) and Silicon (Si) with a defect layer in the
middle can be used as an optical sensor for measuring the concentration of
gases in air when it is illuminated by light in normal incidence. The advantage
of this configuration relies on an enhanced sensitivity of the transmission peak
that is only due to a variation of the refractive index of the cavity

The larger shift between the branches is obtained in the region
(b) where the thickness d1 is between 0.87D and 0.9D, then
leading to the higher sensitivity.
References
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