High-Refractive-Index Waveguide Platforms for Chemical and Biosensing

Structural and light coupling characteristics of patterned silica–titania sol–gel thin films with/without nano gold coatings

Soft lithography-based 1-dimensional/2-dimensional patterned silica–titania sol–gel thin films with/without nano-Au coatings and their light coupling characteristics.

Experimental Validation of the Sensitivity of Waveguide Grating Based Refractometric (Bio)sensors

Despite the fact that the theoretical foundations of the sensitivity of waveguide grating based (bio)sensors are well-known, understood and their implications anticipated by the scientific community since several decades, to our knowledge, no prior publication has experimentally confirmed waveguide sensitivity for multiple film thicknesses, wavelengths and polarization of the propagating light. In this paper, the bulk refractive index sensitivity versus waveguide thickness of said refractometric sensors is experimentally determined and compared with predictions based on established theory. The effective refractive indices and the corresponding sensitivity were determined via the sensors' coupling angles at different cover refractive indices for transverse electric as well as transverse magnetic polarized illumination at various wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared. The theoretical sensitivity was calculated by solving the mode equation for a three layer waveguide.

Evaluation of anti-A/Udorn/307/1972 antibody specificity to influenza A/H3N2 viruses using an evanescent-field coupled waveguide-mode sensor

Discrimination of closely related strains is a key issue, particularly for infectious diseases whose incidence fluctuates according to variations in the season and evolutionary changes. Among infectious diseases, influenza viral infections are a worldwide cause of pandemic disease and mortality. With the emergence of different influenza strains, it is vital to develop a method using antibodies that can differentiate between viral types and subtypes. Ideally, such a system would also be user friendly. In this study, a polyclonal antibody generated against A/Udorn/307/1972 (H3N2) was used as a probe to distinguish between influenza H3N2 viruses based on the interaction between the antibody and hemagglutinin, demonstrating its applicability for viral discrimination. Clear discrimination was demonstrated using an evanescent-field-coupled waveguide-mode sensor, which has appealing characteristics over other methods in the viewpoint of improving the sensitivity, measurement time, portability and usability. Further supporting evidence was obtained using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, hemagglutination-inhibition assays, and infectivity neutralization assays. The results obtained indicate that the polyclonal antibody used here is a potential probe for distinguishing influenza viruses and, with the aid of a handheld sensor it could be used for influenza surveillance.

Optical Gratings Coated with Thin Si3N4 Layer for Efficient Immunosensing by Optical Waveguide Lightmode Spectroscopy

New silicon nitride coated optical gratings were tested by means of Optical Waveguide Lightmode Spectroscopy (OWLS). A thin layer of 10 nm of transparent silicon nitride was deposited on commercial optical gratings by means of sputtering. The quality of the layer was tested by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. As a proof of concept, the sensors were successfully tested with OWLS by monitoring the concentration dependence on the detection of an antibody-protein pair. The potential of the Si3N4 as functional layer in a real-time biosensor opens new ways for the integration of optical waveguides with microelectronics.