Optimization of Thermo-Optic Parameters for Temperature-Insensitive LPWG Refractometers

In this paper, we report numerically calculated results of testing a temperature-insensitive refractive sensor based on a planar-type long-period waveguide grating (LPWG). The LPWG consists of properly chosen polymer materials with an optimized thermo-optic coefficient for the core layer in a four-layer waveguide structure. The resonant wavelength shift below the spectral resolution of the conventional optical spectrum analyzer is obtained accurately over a temperature change of ${\pm}7.5^{\circ}C$ even without any temperature control. The refractive index sensitivity of the proposed grating scheme is about 0.004 per resonant wavelength shift of 0.1 nm for an optimized thermo-optic coefficient.