Design and Analysis of Refractometer Based on Bend Waveguide Structure with Air Trench for Optical Sensor Applications

This study proposes a novel optical sensor structure based on a refractometer combining a bend waveguide with an air trench. The optical sensor is a $1{\times}2$ splitter structure with a reference channel and a sensing channel. The reference channel has a straight waveguide. The sensing channel consists of a U-bend waveguide connecting four C-bends, and a trench structure to partially expose the core layer. The U-bend waveguide consists of one C-bend with the maximum optical loss and three C-bends with minimum losses. A trench provides a quantitative measurement environment and is aligned with the sidewall of the C-bend having the maximum loss. The intensity of the output power depends on the change in the refractive index of the measured material. The insertion loss of the proposed optical sensor changes from 3.7 dB to 59.1 dB when the refractive index changes from 1.3852 to 1.4452.