Elastomeric Polymer Resonant Waveguide Grating based Pressure Sensor.

In this paper, we demonstrate an elastomeric polymer resonant waveguide grating structure to be used as a pressure sensor. The applied pressure is measured by optical resonance spectrum peak shift. The sensitivity - as high as 86.74pm/psi or 12.58pm/kPa - has been experimentally obtained from a fabricated sensor. Potentially, the sensitivity of the demonstrated sensor can be tuned to different pressure ranges by the choices of elastic properties and layer thicknesses of the waveguide and cladding layers. The simulation results agree well with experimental results and indicate that the dominant effect on the sensor is the change of grating period when external pressure is applied. Based on the two-dimensional planar structure, the demonstrated sensor can be used to measure applied surface pressure optically, which has potential applications for optical ultrasound imaging and pressure wave detection/mapping.