Ultrasensitive Nanomechanical Photonic Sensor Based on Horizontal Slot-Waveguide Resonator

A novel integrated nanomechanical optical sensor with ultrahigh sensitivity is presented. The photonic device consists of a silicon-based disk resonator formed by a horizontal slot-waveguide acting as a circular cantilever. The overall sensitivity results from the product of the sensitivities of the slot-waveguide and the disk resonator. Calculations indicate a sensitivity as high as 33 nm^-1 , which is four orders of magnitude larger than that of state-of-the-art microcantilever sensors