Development of an integrated optical platform based on chalcogenide glasses for mid-infrared sensor applications.

Summary This paper presents the development of an integrated chalcogenide glass platform to realize an evanescent wave sensor in the mid-infrared spectral range. The proposed structure is that of a ribbon waveguide on a silicon substrate, whose core and confinement layers are respectively made of Ge 12.5 Sb 25 Se 62.5 and Ge 28.1 Sb 6.3 Se 65.6. We will first detail the simulation results allowing to optimize the structure in order to obtain on the one hand, the monomodal transmission at the wavelengths 6.3 µm and 7.8 µm and on the other hand, a high rate of overlapping of the evanescent wave with the superstrate in order to detect molecules absorbing specifically at these two wavelengths. Finally, optical loss measurements on these guides at λ=1.55 µm as well as light propagation at λ=7.8 µm will be presented.