Ultrasensitive Thermal Sensors Based on Whispering Gallery Modes in a Polymer Core Optical Ring Resonator

Abstract

This study proposes a thermal sensor based on whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in a polymer core optical ring resonator (PCORR). The thermal sensitivity and detection limit (i.e., the temperature resolution) for WGMs of various orders and polarizations are theoretically studied as a function of the ring wall thickness. The results show that the temperature detection limits can be as low as 4 × 10ˉ⁵ and 6 × 10ˉ⁶ K for laser linewidths of 2 and 0.3 MHz, respectively. The ultrahigh temperature resolution makes the PCORR a very promising platform for temperature measurement. The analysis also shows that the WGM of a lower order has better thermal sensing performance and a thinner optimal thickness of the ring resonator. © 2011 Optical Society of America.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Second Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1559-128X

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 Optical Society of America, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2011

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