Ultra-Sensitive and Selective Whispering Gallery Mode Microtoroid Chemical Sensor

Abstract

Optical Whispering gallery mode (WGM) microresonators, which benefit from an ultra-high quality (Q) factor and small mode volume to significantly enhance light-matter interaction, stand out from other sensors, and are utilized in a variety of biochemical sensing or physical parameter detection applications. Physical or chemical reactions occurring in the evanescent field of the polymer-treated microtoroid equatorial plane will be translated into variations of the WGM spectra, which will, in turn, be recorded and analyzed through techniques such as frequency locking, balanced detection, and post data processing. The overall platform is known as the Frequency-locked optical whispering evanescent resonator (FLOWER) system. The performance and characteristics of ultra-sensitive and selective WGM gas sensors are evaluated and demonstrated in this dissertation. Two approaches to further improve the system are proposed, one based on plasmonic near-field enhancement to improve the sensitivity and the other on a fiber metrology method using Rayleigh backscattering to eliminate the thermal noise of the sensing system. Finally, another sensing application using the dual-FLOWER system for particle shape analysis is introduced.