Photonic crystal slabs (PCS) are explored in the context of optofluidic refractive index (RI) sensing for portable, label-free, biosensing applications. The accuracy of RI sensors is limited by noise signals that cause a change in RI that cannot be differentiated from the signal of interest. For this reason self-referencing schemes that provide rejection of common mode signals, and an inherent temperature stabilization approach, are explored. A novel referencing method that allows for frequency shifts to be read out in the transmission power spectrum is proposed and characterized. In terms of improving sensing metrics the relevant characteristics of various PCS architectures are explored numerically. In addition, a novel suspended \emph{air-substrate} device that offers greatly improved sensitivity is proposed and characterized. An experimental measurement near the theoretical detection limit for a PCS is demonstrated. In understanding measurement errors the crossed-polarization effect and its practical limitations are explored numerically.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35692 |
| Date | 17 July 2013 |
| Creators | Schilling, Ryan |
| Contributors | Levi, Ofer |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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