Abstract
We numerically investigate an optical sensor in the infrared based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) assembled with two single-mode silica nanowires immersed in acetonitrile. We propose to use acetonitrile as the detecting solution because, in contrast to water which has very high losses in the infrared, it has negligible losses at important wavelengths of 1,300 and 1550 nm. By solving for the fundamental mode of a three-layer nanowire, we calculate the propagation constant difference between the sensing and reference arms at the output of the MZI optical sensor. For nanoparticles with a size of 12 nm and an index of refraction of 1.4, the sensitivity of the optical sensor becomes a maximum for a wire diameter of 1.23 μm. An optical sensor operating at a wavelength of 325 nm and using water as the detecting solution requires nanowires with a diameter of 240 nm, which is much more difficult to implement.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen K.N., Bellamacina C.R., Ding X., Jeffery C.J., Mattos C., Petsko G.A., Ringe D.: An experimental approach to mapping the binding surfaces of crystalline proteins. J. Phys. Chem. 100, 2605–2611 (1996)
Allsop T., Neal R., Rehman S., Webb D.J., Mapps D., Bennion I.: Generation of infrared surface plasmon resonances with high refractive index sensitivity utilizing tilted fiber Bragg gratings. Appl. Opt. 46, 5456–5460 (2007)
Babu K.R., Douglas D.J.: Methanol-induced conformations of myoglobin at pH 4.0. Biochemistry 39, 14702–14710 (2000)
Barrelet C.J., Greytak A.B., Lieber C.M.: Nanowire photonic circuit elements. Nano Lett. 4, 1981–1985 (2004)
Bellissent-Funel M.C.: Hydration Processes in Biology. IOS Press, Amsterdam (1999)
Bertie J.: Acetonitrile-water mixtures. J. Phys. Chem. 101, 4111–4119 (1997)
Bhatia V., Vengsarkar A.M.: Optical fiber long-period grating sensors. Opt. Lett. 21(9), 692–694 (1996)
Bonner G., Klibanov A.M.: Structural stability of DNA in nonaqueous solvents. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 68, 334–344 (2000)
Brambilla G., Finazzi V., Richardson D.J.: Ultra-low-loss optical fiber nanotapers. Opt. Express 12, 2258–2263 (2004)
Chong J.H., Shum P., Haryono H., Yohana A., Rao M.K., Lu C., Zhu Y.: Measurements of refractive index sensitivity using long-period grating refractometer. Opt. Commun. 229, 65–69 (2004)
Debackere P., Scheerlinck S., Bienstman P., Baets R.: Surface plasmon interferometer in silicon-on-insulator: novel concept for an integrated biosensor. Opt. Express 14, 7063–7072 (2006)
Fang X., Liao C.R., Wang D.N.: Femtosecond laser fabricated fiber Bragg grating in microfiber for refractive index sensing. Opt. Lett. 35(7), 1007–1009 (2010)
Fitzpatrick P.A., Ringe D., Klibanov A.M.: X-ray crystal structure of cross-linked subtilisin Carlsberg in water vs. acetonitrile. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 198, 675–681 (1994)
Foster M.A., Turner A.C., Lipson M., Gaeta A.L.: Nonlinear optics in photonic nanowires. Opt. Express 16(2), 1300–1320 (2008)
Han T., Liu Y.G., Wang Z., Zou B., Tai B., Liu B.: Avoided-crossing-based ultrasensitive photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor. Opt. Lett. 35, 2061–2063 (2010)
Jha R., Villatoro J., Badenes G., Pruneri V.: Refractometry based on a photonic crystal fiber interferometer. Opt. Lett. 34, 617–619 (2009)
Klibanov A.M.: Answering the question: why did biocatalysis in organic media not take off in the 1930s?. Trends Biotechnol. 18, 85–86 (2000)
Klocek P.: Handbook of Infrared Optical Materials. Marcel Dekker, New York (1991)
Knubovets T., Osterhout J.J., Klibanov A.M.: Structure of lysozyme dissolved in neat organic solvents as assessed by NMR and CD spectroscopies. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 63, 242–248 (1999)
Law M., Sirbuly D.J., Johnson J.C., Goldberger J., Saykally R.J., Yang P.D.: Nanoribbon waveguides for subwavelength photonics integration. Science 305, 1269–1273 (2004)
Lee H.W., Schmidt M.A., Uebel P., Tyagi H., Joly N.Y., Scharrer M., Russell P.S.J.: Optofluidic refractive-index sensor in step-index fiber with parallel hollow micro-channel. Opt. Express 19, 8200–8207 (2011)
Leon-Saval S.G., Birks T.A., Wadsworth W.J., St J., Russell P.S.J., Mason M.W.: Supercontinuum generation in submicron fiber waveguides. Opt. Express 12, 2864–2869 (2004)
Liang W., Huang Y., Xu Y., Lee R.K., Yariv A.: Highly sensitive fiber Bragg grating refractive index sensors. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 151122–151124 (2005)
Lou J., Tong L., Ye Z.: Modeling of silica nanowires for optical sensing. Opt. Express 13(6), 2135–2140 (2005)
Ma L., Katagiri T., Matsuura Y.: Surface-plasmon resonance sensor using silica-core Bragg fiber. Opt. Lett. 34, 1069–1071 (2009)
Mattos C., Ringe D.: Proteins in organic solvents. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 11, 761–764 (2001)
Oppenheim S.F., Studts J.M., Fox B.G., Dordick J.S.: Aromatic hydroxylation catalyzed by toluene 4-monooxygenase in organic solvent/aqueous buffer mixtures. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 90, 187–197 (2001)
Phan Huy M.C., Laffont G., Dewynter V., Ferdinand P., Roy P., Auguste J.L., Pagnoux D., Blanc W., Dussardier B.: Three-hole microstructured optical fiber for efficient fiber Bragg grating refractometer. Opt. Lett. 32, 2390–2392 (2007)
Poulton, C.G., Schmidt, M.A., Pearce, G.J., Kakarantzas, G., Russell, P.S.J.: Numerical study of guidedmodes in arrays of metallic nanowires. Opt. Lett. 32, 1647–1649 (2007)
Rindorf L., Bang O.: Highly sensitive refractometer with a photonic-crystal-fiber long-period grating. Opt. Lett. 33, 563–565 (2008)
Schiebener P., Straub J., Sengers J.M.H.L., Gallagher J.S.: Refractive index of water and steam as function of wavelength, temperature and density. J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 19, 677–717 (1990)
Schmitke J.L., Stern L.J., Klibanov A.M.: The crystal structure of subtilisin Carlsberg in anhydrous dioxane and its comparison with those in water and acetonitrile. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 4250–4255 (1997)
Snyder A.W., Love J.D.: Optical waveguide theory. Chapman and Hall, New York (1983)
Tong L., Gattass R.R., Ashcom J.B., He S., Lou J., Shen M., Maxwell I., Mazur E.: Subwavelength diameter silica wires for low-loss optical wave guiding. Nature 426, 816–819 (2003)
Tong L., Hu L., Zhang J., Qiu J., Yang Q., Lou J., Shen Y., He J., Ye Z.: Photonic nanowires directly drawn from bulk glasses. Opt. Express 12, 82–87 (2006)
Wu D.K.C., Kuhlmey B.T., Eggleton B.J.: Ultrasensitive photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor. Opt. Lett. 34, 322–324 (2009)
Wu J., Day D., Gu M.: A microfluidic refractive index sensor based on an integrated three-dimensional photonic crystal. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 071108–071110 (2008)
Yennawar N.H., Yennawar H.P., Farber G.K.: X-ray crystal structure of gamma-chymotrypsin in hexane. Biochemistry 33, 7326–7336 (1994)
Zhang R., Teipel J., Zhang X., Nau D., Giessen H.: Group velocity dispersion of tapered fibers immersed in different liquids. Opt. Express 12, 1700–1707 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mohebbi, M. Optical sensing of nanoparticles in the infrared by use of silica nanowires. Opt Quant Electron 45, 21–33 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-012-9599-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-012-9599-3