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Integrated Optical Microsystems for Interferometric Analytics

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Optical Nano- and Microsystems for Bioanalytics

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors ((SSSENSORS,volume 10))

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Abstract

Integrated optical (IO) microsystems for interferometric analysis can be used in sensing applications playing quite different roles; in particular they can operate by detecting the transmission changes induced by some chemical or biological adsorbate coming in contact with the optical chip in a region close to an integrated waveguide and interacting with the evanescent field coupled to the waveguide. Alternatively, IO microsystems can act as transducers of the variations of the properties of an optical signal, namely the intensity, originated by the presence of chemical or biological compounds along the optical path between a light source and the IO microsystem. In the last case, we are dealing with IO microsystems suitable to perform Absorption or Emission Fourier Spectroscopy. In both cases, interferometry is the most convenient tool that can be used to perform high resolution measurements of the variation of the optical signal and convert it into a set of data that can give rise to very precise quantitative information. To favour a concise and coherent presentation, most of this chapter will be devoted to the description of the basic principles of both these analytical techniques including a synthetic overview on the data-handling problems. At first, the basics of Fourier Spectroscopy will be given, considering in particular the peculiarity introduced by the use of IO microsystems. In fact, it must be taken into account that, besides the usual physical factors (optical path, spectral window, etc.) affecting the absorption spectroscopy technique in the detection of chemical compounds, in the case of IO microdevices, the performances of this technique strongly depend on both the spectrometer design and the fabrication process. In particular, the integrated microinterferometer can allow the capability of performing the analyses in situ, possibly without sample manipulation and remaining almost free from the poisoning problems frequently present in other kinds of detectors for chemical compounds. This feature explains the reason why the IO microsystems for interferometric analytics are under strong consideration in many different scientific areas such as Astrophysics, Environment, Biosciences, Space Science and Exploration without mentioning the peculiar interest in the Safety and Security field. Under the combined driving force of the space research and of the biological and environmental demand, there has been a particular interest in the development of integrated interferometric microdevices, allowing to perform the Fourier Transform Spectroscopy with very interesting performances. In fact, due to their very small sizes and very small power consumption, battery-operated portable instruments can nowadays be fabricated. Successively, a synthetic discussion of the integrated microdevice fabrication procedures with an analysis of the performances limitation connected to the micro-manufacturing processes will be presented. Finally, it will be given a concise description of a new generation of optical microsystems addressed to different scientific areas, including Bioanalytics, which has appeared on scientific literature, even if their presence on the market has been very limited so far.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Equation (3) is a convenient mathematical representation, strongly simplifying the computations: in practice only the real part is considered for actual measurements.

  2. 2.

    The first assumption means that the propagating wave field distribution does not vary in the y direction. This assumption implies that the field extends indefinitely in the y direction, which is in practice only an ideal condition but that can be assumed as reasonable constraint when the lateral dimensions of the slab waveguide are largely greater than the wavelength of the propagating radiation: further an infinite dimension does not guarantee in principle this first assumption as the infinity of the y dimension of the layer is only a necessary condition for ∂/∂y = 0, but not a sufficient condition. For instance, a plane wave can experience variations even in an infinitely large medium in the direction of propagation: the manner the light is launched determines for example this condition. The second assumption leads to a natural way of cataloguing the solutions, but it is not the only way to do it. The solutions are then separated into two wave families: one type has only transverse but no longitudinal magnetic field, that is, H z  = 0, whereas the other one has only transverse but no longitudinal electric field, that is, E z  = 0. The former are called transverse magnetic or TM modes whereas the latter are defined as transverse electric or TE modes. In general, a propagating wave has both H z and E z components and the field is composed of both TM and TE modes in general: on the other hand the application of particular micro-fabrication techniques can produce waveguides supporting either only TM or TE modes.

  3. 3.

    Equation (27) can be obtained from (7) and (21), by considering the effect of the interferometer transfer function on a monochromatic component with wave-number k and remembering that the Fourier Transform of sinusoidal function sin(k t) is \( \frac{\pi }{i} \cdot \left( {\delta (\omega - k) - \delta (\omega + k)} \right) \) with δ(x) the Dirac’s delta distribution [Douglas Cohen (2007) Performance analysis of standard Fourier-transform spectrometers. Chap. 2.1, pp 144–159]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems IMM-CNR and Laboratory for Micro and Submicro enabling Technologies of Emilia-Romagna Region, MIST E-R Scrl, Via Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy

    Gian Giuseppe Bentini

  2. Compagnia Generale Spazio SpA, CGS and Laboratory for Micro and Submicro enabling Technologies of Emilia-Romagna Region, MIST E-R Scrl, Via Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy

    Marco Chiarini

Authors
  1. Gian Giuseppe Bentini
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Correspondence to Gian Giuseppe Bentini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Nano Biophotonics, Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, Jena, 07745, Germany

    Wolfgang Fritzsche

  2. , Inst. für Physikalische Chemie, Universität Jena, Helmholtzweg 4, Jena, 07743, Germany

    Jürgen Popp

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Bentini, G.G., Chiarini, M. (2012). Integrated Optical Microsystems for Interferometric Analytics. In: Fritzsche, W., Popp, J. (eds) Optical Nano- and Microsystems for Bioanalytics. Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25498-7_4

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