Micromachined pressure sensor integrated with an imbalanced Mach-Zehnder waveguide on silicon for coherence modulation scheme

Henri Porte; Veronique Gorel; Jean-Pierre Goedgebuer

doi:10.1117/12.318200

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13 August 1998 Micromachined pressure sensor integrated with an imbalanced Mach-Zehnder waveguide on silicon for coherence modulation scheme

Henri Porte, Veronique Gorel, Jean-Pierre Goedgebuer

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Proceedings Volume 3555, Optical and Fiber Optic Sensor Systems; (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.318200
Event: Photonics China '98, 1998, Beijing, China

Abstract

We investigate theoretically and experimentally the principle of a micromachined pressure sensor integrated in silicon. The optical part of the sensor consists of an imbalanced Mach-Zehnder waveguide interferometer. The waveguide is formed by a silicon nitride layer of high refractive index set between two cladding layers of silicon dioxide of lower refractive index. The sensing part of the device consists in a set of membranes obtained by anisotropic etching of the back face of the substrate under the reference arm. The pressure variations applied to the membrane induce a geometrical deformation of the waveguide arm and modify the optical path difference between the arms. The non-linear variation of the phase versus the applied pressure is obtained from the spectral analysis of the channeled spectrum transmitted by the interferometer. The static optical path-delay introduced between the arms allows the sensor to be introduce din a coherence modulation scheme, which can result in a remote sensor system, involving an active demodulation.

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Henri Porte, Veronique Gorel, and Jean-Pierre Goedgebuer "Micromachined pressure sensor integrated with an imbalanced Mach-Zehnder waveguide on silicon for coherence modulation scheme", Proc. SPIE 3555, Optical and Fiber Optic Sensor Systems, (13 August 1998); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.318200

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