Sol-Gel-Based Integrated Optical Microring Resonator Humidity Sensor

Author

Bhola, Bipin ; Nosovitskiy, Pavel ; Mahalingam, Hari ; Steier, William H.

Author_Institution

Ming Hsieh Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Volume

9

Issue

7

fYear

2009

fDate

7/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

740

Lastpage

747

Abstract

A novel humidity sensor based on sol-gel clad polymer microring resonator is presented. This sensor is based on the principle of change in refractive index of sol-gel on exposure to moisture. This change causes a shift in the resonant wavelength of the microring resonator. The performance of this sensor is analyzed and different ways of tailoring the sensor response are suggested. This sensor has a sensitivity of 16 pm/% relative humidity (RH) and a dynamic range up to 72% RH. The response time of this sensor can be tailored to be less than 200 ms, which could be utilized for monitoring human breathing condition in medical applications.

Keywords

biomedical equipment; humidity sensors; integrated optics; micro-optomechanical devices; micromechanical resonators; microsensors; optical polymers; optical resonators; optical sensors; refractive index; sol-gel processing; human breathing condition monitoring; humidity sensor; medical applications; microsensor; polymer microring resonator; refractive index; relative humidity; sol-gel-based integrated optical microring resonator; Biomedical optical imaging; Humidity; Integrated optics; Moisture; Optical polymers; Optical refraction; Optical resonators; Optical sensors; Optical variables control; Refractive index; Humidity; microresonators; microsensors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2009.2020113

Filename

4957494