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Applied Physics Express 8, 092004 (2015)
http://dx.doi.org/10.7567/APEX.8.092004

Multiwavelength guided mode resonance sensor array

Sakoolkan Boonruang1* and Waleed S. Mohammed2
1
Photonics Technology Laboratory, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC),
Thailand Science Park, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
2
Bangkok University Center of Research in Optoelectronics, Communications and Control Systems (BU-CROCCS),
School of Engineering, Bangkok University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
E-mail: [email protected]
Received July 10, 2015; accepted August 12, 2015; published online September 2, 2015

A multiwavelength guided mode resonance (GMR) sensor array is proposed to minimize the need of complex detection systems. Using a chirped
grating in the GMR sensor, a single spectrometer is needed to simultaneously receive the signal from each array without modulating or mechanical
scanning techniques. The array elements placed along the direction of the grating chirp can form the GMR structure, and each array element
shows a different average period. Thus, the resonance condition for each array element differs from the next. A multiline resonance spectrum can
be detected without time delay concerns in each array. A two-channel sensor array is experimentally demonstrated in this study.
© 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

any optical devices and methods, such as surface CCD array measures the spectrum of each point along the

M plasmon resonance, diffractive optical elements,

interferometers, and optical waveguides, have been
constantly demonstrated for chemical and biological sensing
beam. To do so, the line scanning mechanisms are included.
By neglecting the usage of a complex spectrometer unit, a
signal modulation system is required.12) This, however, does
applications.1,2) The advantages of optical sensors are high not reduce the cost of the system or its complexity.
sensitivity, fast response, and the ability to be implemented as In this Letter, we propose an alternative approach of
label-free sensors with no electromagnetic interference. The parallel detection with a single spectrometer without using a
sensing scheme detects the change in refractive index and the signal modulator. This is performed by implementing a
additional film deposited on the sensor surface. This alters the multiwavelength GMR sensor array, where a chirped grating
optical signal such as the wavelength=angular resonance is used in the GMR structure. The variation in grating
spectrum or intensity level. In the utilization of a periodic periodicity along the structure causes the resonance to shift
structure and a waveguide, resonance is due to phase match- accordingly. The sensing array is then formed by placing
ing between coupled modes or guided and diffracted waves finite-size apertures along the chirp direction. Being separated
such as in the case of a leaky waveguide structure.3–9) They along the axis, each array element has a different average
can be in various forms and are generally known as guided period. That corresponds to a different resonance peak in the
mode resonance3,4) or photonic crystal slab-waveguide5–9) reflection spectrum. This configuration allows for the usage
structures. The resonance effect is referred to in this Letter as of a single spectrometer to receive a series of resonance peaks
guided mode resonance (GMR). At resonance, the incident in the reflection spectrum. Each resonance peak represents
light is totally reflected with highly angular and spectral the resonance wavelength of each array. Thus, changes on
selectivity. The resonance relies on structural geometrical the sensor array can be simultaneously measured through the
features such as the grating period=depth, film thickness, and shift of each resonance peak relative to each array element.
material’s optical properties. Hence, a sensing layer can be Referring to the phase matching condition between a
included to be part of the waveguide region. That allows guided mode and first-order diffracted waves, the phase
molecular binding on the sensing surface to strongly con- equation is written as Eq. (1) when including a chirped
tribute to the shift of the waveguide properties and hence the periodicity:
resonance spectrum. The measurement can detect both trans-
0 ðxÞ
mission and reflection. Resonance wavelength is obtainable neff,m ð0 ; xÞ  sin inc  : ð1Þ
within a broad spectrum range. ðxÞ
GMR devices with a uniform grating have been presented Here, neff,m is the modal effective index, θinc is the angle of
in numerous biosensing applications such as the detection of incidence, and Λ(x) and λ0(x) are the period of the chirped
viruses,6) proteins,7) DNAs,8) and cell–surface interactions.9) grating and the resonance spectrum along the x-axis, respec-
To realize a complex detection, implementing a sensor tively. Here, the modal effective index is assumed to be
array is necessary. Lately, many readout systems have been constant around a position x along the grating (slow variation
reported in the literature. However, owing to measurement around a small region). Thus, at normal incidence, the
time concerns, a parallel detection system is brought into the resonance wavelength λ0 can be approximated to be linearly
attention of many researchers. In 2002, Cunningham et al.10) proportional to the grating period.
proposed a readout system using arrays of a fiber bundle The proposed multiwavelength sensing scheme is applied
probe and a spectrometer. Each detection array individually through an array of sensing spots aligned along the x-axis,
measures a resonance spectrum from each sensing spot. The where the resonance of each sensing spot depends on its
system is demonstrated for a 96-well plate. The detection location as described in Eq. (1). The finite size of each array
array allows for the measurement along one column; thus, a contains a variation in grating period, which in turn increases
one-directional scanning mechanism is included to measure the resonance line width especially in a larger sensing spot
the signal from one column to another. An alternative size. Resonances from two successive arrays might not be
approach is the use of an imaging spectrometer,11) where a distinguishable. Therefore, the dimensions of the array and
092004-1 © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Appl. Phys. Express 8, 092004 (2015) S. Boonruang and W. S. Mohammed

Fig. 1. Schematic of multiwavelength GMR sensor array.

grating chirp have to be properly selected to ensure that the

resonance spectrum of each sensing spot can be individually
resolved. The resonance wavelength, line width, and opera- Fig. 2. Schematic showing beam interference for generating a chirped
tion range (maximum shift of the resonance peak) determine grating’s pattern.
the maximum number of spots in the array. A desired number
of elements are achieved through optimum design of the
spot size and separation of each array and grating chirp.
Compared with the uniform grating, the chirped grating helps
to eliminate crossed coupling between the sensor arrays
that may reduce the efficiency of the sensor. The molecular
binding on the sensing spot or changes in refractive index
affect the guiding properties that can be interpreted in terms
of the change in modal effective index in Eq. (1). The (a) (b)
resonance wavelength shifts accordingly. For the proposed Fig. 3. SEM images of a fabricated device: (a) side view and (b) top view.
device, the changes on the sensor array can be detected
simultaneously via tracking the individual resonance shifts.
The structure implemented in this study is described in a generated by first casting a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)
drawing in Fig. 1. It comprises of a chirped grating, having a mold from a photoresist master mold. The PDMS mold is then
period Λ(x) and a depth tg, fabricated on a low-index film placed on the SOG film coated on a glass substrate (BK-7
having a refractive index ngf . Then, a high-index film, having having a refractive index of 1.52) with a proper force where
a refractive index nf and a thickness t f , is deposited on top of the film is hardened by a thermal curing process before
the grating. To obtain a high-efficiency device, a material peeling off the PDMS mold. The SOG with part number
with low absorption in the working spectral range is required. 400F (refractive index: 1.4) purchased from Filmtronics16) is
Here, the chirped grating is fabricated by laser interference used. Finally, the imprinted grating is deposited with a
lithography.13,14) With this approach, the chirped periodicity high-refractive-index titanium dioxide film (TiO2 having a
can be generated by the interference between a focusing refractive index of 2.4) by a sputtering technique.
beam and a parallel beam as described in Fig. 2. The pattern Figure 3 shows the scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
periodicity is proportional to the angles of interference images of the fabricated GMR. Figure 3(a) shows a cross
ð1 ; 2 Þ as well as to the distance between a recording section of the structure that clearly shows the two film layers:
position and the focus point of the focusing beam (d). The the imprinted SOG and TiO2 films. The image demonstrates
interference pattern of these two beams can be written in that the obtained grating has a depth of ∼0.11 µm. There
terms of intensity as in Eq. (2). To simplify the equation, one remains a film layer under the imprinted grating with a thick-
focuses on the intensity along the x-axis at y = 0: ness of ∼0.45 µm. This layer does not prevent resonance.
   The TiO2 film has a thickness of ∼0.06 µm. The top view
2 k0 x2
Iðx; 0Þ ¼ A0 2 þ 2 cos k0 d þ  k0 xðsin 1 þ sin 2 Þ : in Fig. 3(b) demonstrates the uniformity of the fabricated
2d
grating.
ð2Þ On the basis of the SEM images taken at different points
A0 in Eq. (2) is the electric field magnitude of each beam, along the grating chirp direction (x-axis), the period of the
which is assumed to be equal. k0 is the propagating con- fabricated grating is plotted in Fig. 4 (red-dot graph) in
stant in air: k0 = 2π=λ. Thus, the periodicity of the inter- comparison with the calculation results (black-square solid
ference beam along the x-axis [Λ(x)] can be written as line) from Eq. (3), where the angles used to record the inter-
ference beam are θ1 ∼ 71° and θ2 ∼ 1.2°, and the distance d is

ðxÞ ¼ : ð3Þ ∼6 cm. The device is ∼6 mm wide. The measurement data
x
þ sin 1 þ sin 2 has a similar trend to the calculation results. The period from
2d one side to another is linearly varied from ∼0.46 to ∼0.48
In the experiment, the interference beam is generated using µm. The variation in the measured period is due to the
a 50 mW HeCd laser with 442 nm wavelength and recorded accuracy of extracting the period information from the SEM
on a positive photoresist film (Shipley Microposit S1805) images.
coated on a glass substrate. The recorded pattern is then used Figure 5 shows the optical excitation and detection system
as a master mold. To make a GMR sensor, the master mold is for the multiwavelength GMR-based sensor. A broadband
transferred to a low-refractive-index spin-on-glass (SOG) film light source, which is a tungsten–halogen light source (Ocean
by a nanoimprint technique.15) Here, the imprinting mold is Optics HL-2000), is used. A collimated beam is coupled
092004-2 © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Appl. Phys. Express 8, 092004 (2015) S. Boonruang and W. S. Mohammed

Fig. 4. Plot of measured grating periods along x-axis in comparison with (a)
calculated grating periods from Eq. (3).

Fig. 5. Schematic of optical system for a multiwavelength GMR-based

sensor array. (b)

Fig. 6. Experimental results of reflection spectrum (a) and resonance peak

wavelength along a multiwavelength GMR sensor in x-axis (b) in
to the system through a multimode fiber attached to a comparison with RCWA calculations.
collimating lens as shown. The beam is vertically incident to
the sensor from the substrate side using a 45° mirror. The
reflected beam is separated from the incident beam using a linear fit of the experimentally measured periods [Eq. (i) in
50 : 50 beam splitter cube. As a one-dimensional (1D) Fig. 4]. The black-square solid line shows the calculation
chirped grating is polarization-dependent, a linear polarizer is results obtained when applying a period value from Eq. (3).
applied in the system to filter out either TE or TM reso- As demonstrated, resonance shifts from both the experimen-
nances. An array of apertures is added under the sensor chip tal and calculation results have similar trends. From the plots
to allow light incident on specific locations of the grating. in Fig. 6(a), the average line width of the six peaks is ap-
The reflected beams from each array are collected using proximately 12 nm. This allows for at least three sensing
a collimator lens and coupled to a spectrometer (Thorlabs spots that can be achieved when using a 1-mm-diameter
CCS200 compact CCD spectrometer) via a multimode fiber. aperture and a 3 mm separation of each spot (center to
For the measurement, either a microfluidic flow channel or a center). This value can be further improved by reducing the
sensor array cuvette can be applied on the sensor surface. aperture size.
To examine the shift of the resonance peak versus grating To demonstrate the feasibility of a multiwavelength sensor
location, a one-spot aperture of 1 mm diameter is scanned array, a two-spot aperture of 1 mm diameter is used to form
along the grating axis. The experimental results in Fig. 6 an array of two sensing spots along the x-axis as in the
measure the resonance spectrum when dropping deionized configuration in Fig. 5. Here, a two-channel flow cell and a
(DI) water (refractive index: ∼1.33) on the sensor surface in two-channel aperture are added to the sensor chip. To ensure
comparison with the simulation results. The plots in Fig. 6(a) the resolved resonance spectrum, the sensing channels ch1
indicate the reflection spectrum of the TM0 resonance mode and ch2 are placed at the locations x ∼ 6 mm and x ∼ 0 mm,
at each position along the fabricated sensor in the x-direction respectively. The reflection spectrum obtained when measur-
from x1 to x6, where x1 locates at the position with the largest ing with DI water is shown in the graph in Fig. 7. As seen,
period [ðx ¼ 0Þ  480 nm]. As described in the plot in two resonance peaks at wavelengths of ∼0.675 and ∼0.695
Fig. 4, the period is gradually reduced from x1 to x6 (x = 0, µm are presented. These peaks indicate resonances at ch1 and
1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 5.25, and 6 mm). The peak resonance is ch2, respectively, as observed in the graph. The detection
shifted toward a shorter wavelength when scanning from scheme is performed by simultaneously tracking the reso-
x1 to x6. The plots in Fig. 6(b) present the shift of the reso- nance peaks at each channel. To measure the detection limit,
nance peak wavelength along the x-axis. In the graph, the the glycerol solution mixed with DI water at different con-
experimental results (black-triangle solid line) are compared centrations is used. In the experimental step, each solution is
with calculations through rigorous coupled wave analysis fed into both channels simultaneously, while DI water is
(RCWA).17,18) In the calculations, there exist two plots. The tested between concentrations. The resonance wavelength of
red-dotted dashed line presents the calculations based on the each channel is recorded and plotted versus time. The time
092004-3 © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
Appl. Phys. Express 8, 092004 (2015) S. Boonruang and W. S. Mohammed

a detection limit of up to 7 × 10−6 RIU. In addition, the

fabricated device can be further implemented for a higher
number of sensor arrays.
The proposed system performance is dictated by the ability
to resolve two separate peaks with a high signal-to-noise
ratio. Increasing the aperture size to obtain a higher signal
causes peak broadening due to a large period variation. A
smaller size brings a narrower peak with less power. The
optimization of the grating period function and aperture size
for each channel can allow the implementation of a higher
number of spots. A chirped grating with a broader range of
Fig. 7. Reflection spectrum of a 2-channel multiwavelength GMR sensor period variations can ensure a distinguishable resonance peak
array. wavelength. However, the main drawback is the fact that it
increases the resonance line width. To ensure a narrow line
width, a sensor readout system utilizing a smaller aperture
size and a higher light source power to maintain the signal-
to-noise ratio is necessary. With the presented fabrication
approach, a larger-field-of-view focusing system in an inter-
ference lithography setup is required to obtain the chirped
grating with a broader period variation. The proposed device
has high potential for further implementation of a low-cost
multiple optical channel detection system.
Acknowledgment This research was supported by a grant from the sensor
technology platform from the National Electronics and Computer Technology
Center (NECTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency
(NSTDA).
(a)

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092004-4 © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics