Design of optical biosensor using polymeric waveguide

We present a detailed design of an optical biosensor using polymeric waveguides intended for blood glucose concentration measurements. Our proposed device is based on a vertical two-waveguide ARROW structure, simplifying fabrication and avoiding post tuning of sensor parameters. The theoretical analysis based on coupled mode theory and transfer matrix techniques is presented whereby all device dimensions and parameters are calculated. For a 2 cm sensor, output optical power in one guide can swing by approximately 17% depending on glucose concentration. Such results represent a significant improvement in performance when compared with conventional Mach-Zehnder sensors.