A Design of a Novel Silicon Photonics Sensor with Ultra-Large Free Spectral Range Based on a Directional Coupler-Assisted Racetrack Resonator (DCARR)

A novel refractive index-based sensor implemented within a silicon photonic integrated circuit (PIC) is reported. The design is based on a double-directional coupler (DC) integrated with a racetrack-type resonator (RR) to enhance the optical response to changes in the near-surface refractive index via the optical Vernier effect. Although this approach can give rise to an extremely large ‘envelope’ free spectral range (FSR(Vernier)), we restrict the design geometry to ensure this is within the traditional silicon PIC operating wavelength range of 1400–1700 nm. As a result, the exemplar double DC-assisted RR (DCARR) device demonstrated here, with FSR(Vernier) = 246 nm, has a spectral sensitivity S(Vernier) = 5 × 10(4) nm/RIU.