Optical sensing based on overlapping optical modes in optical resonator sensors and interferometric sensors
First Claim
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1. An optical sensing device, comprising:
- a laser that produces a laser probe beam;
an optical resonator in an optical path of the laser probe beam to receive light of the laser probe beam in a transverse magnetic (TM) mode and a transverse electric (TE) mode and to support both TM and TE optical modes that spatially overlap, the optical resonator located adjacent to or in contact with a sample to cause optical interaction between the sample and the light in the TM and TE optical modes; and
a detection unit that is coupled to the optical resonator to detect a shift in a difference between a first resonance wavelength of a TE optical mode and a second resonance wavelength of a TM optical mode and to measure a change in the sample from the detected shift.
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Abstract
Techniques and devices based on transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) modes in an optical resonator or interferometer to provide sensitive optical detection with insensitivity to a change in temperature. A shift in a difference between a first resonance wavelength of a TE optical mode and a second resonance wavelength of a TM optical mode is measured to measure a change in a sample that is in optical interaction with the optical resonator or interferometer. For example, the detected shift can be used to measure a change in a refractive index of the sample.
95 Citations
30 Claims
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1. An optical sensing device, comprising:
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a laser that produces a laser probe beam; an optical resonator in an optical path of the laser probe beam to receive light of the laser probe beam in a transverse magnetic (TM) mode and a transverse electric (TE) mode and to support both TM and TE optical modes that spatially overlap, the optical resonator located adjacent to or in contact with a sample to cause optical interaction between the sample and the light in the TM and TE optical modes; and a detection unit that is coupled to the optical resonator to detect a shift in a difference between a first resonance wavelength of a TE optical mode and a second resonance wavelength of a TM optical mode and to measure a change in the sample from the detected shift. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for optically sensing a sample, comprising:
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placing an optical resonator, which is structured to support transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) optical modes that spatially overlap, adjacent to or in contact with a sample to cause optical interaction between the sample and optical fields of light in the TM and TE optical modes; coupling probe light into the optical resonator to cause the probe light in the TM and TE optical modes to interact with the sample; and detecting a shift in a difference between a first resonance wavelength of a TE optical mode and a second resonance wavelength of a TM optical mode of the optical resonator to measure a change in the sample to reduce noise in the detected shift caused by thermal fluctuations in the optical resonator and the sample. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. An optical sensing device, comprising:
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an optical input module to provide laser light linearly polarized at an input polarization; a waveguide structured to support transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) optical modes linearly polarized along first and second orthogonal polarizations, respectively, and located adjacent to or in contact with a sample to cause optical interaction between the sample and the light in waveguide, the waveguide placed in an optical path of the laser light from the optical input module to receive the laser light and oriented relative to the optical input module to form a 45-degree angle between and input polarization and each of the first and second orthogonal polarizations; an output polarizer polarized at an output polarization which is at 45 degrees with respect to each of the first and second orthogonal polarizations of the waveguide and located in an optical path of light output by the waveguide to cause optical interference between a portion of light in the TE mode from the waveguide and a portion of light in the TM mode from the waveguide; and a detection unit to receive light from the output polarizer to detect a difference between a phase shift of light in the TE mode and light in the TM mode in the output of the waveguide from the optical interference and to measure a change in the sample. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A method for optically sensing a sample, comprising:
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placing an optical resonator that supports two or more different optical modes relative to a sample in optical interaction between the sample and the optical resonator; coupling probe light into the optical resonator to produce first and second different optical modes that spatially overlap with each other, the first and second optical modes having first and second optical resonances at a first resonance wavelength and a second resonance wavelength, respectively; sweeping an optical frequency of the probe light over the first and second resonance wavelengths of the first and second optical modes; detecting light coupled out of the optical resonator to measure a spectrum of the light coupled out of the optical resonator or waveguide based on sweeping of the optical frequency of the probe light; using the obtained spectrum of light to obtain a difference between the first resonance wavelength of the first optical mode and the second resonance wavelength of the second optical mode; and using the difference between the first resonance wavelength and the second resonance wavelength to determine a change in the sample while suppressing a noise caused by a temperature change. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification