High Resolution and Wide Dynamic Range Pressure Sensor Based on Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal

The authors present a new design of high resolution and wide dynamic range photonic crystal pressure sensor. This sensor is based on two-dimensional photonic crystal with square array of silicon rods surrounded by air. The sensor consists of a photonic crystal waveguide which is coupled to a photonic crystal nanocavity. The waveguide is configured by removing one row of Si rods and nanocavity is formed by modifying the radius of one Si rod. The sensor is designed for 1300 nm–1400 nm wavelengths. Simulation results show that resonant wavelength of nanocavity is linearly shifted to larger wavelengths by increasing the pressure. The designed sensor has a linear behavior between 0.1 GPa to 10 GPa of applied pressure and 8 nm/GPa of pressure sensitivity.