Analysis of optofluidic coupling for integrated lab-on-a-chip applications

Compact lab-on-chip systems for future applications require the integration of optical and fluidic elements on a single chip. Here we present the sensitivity analysis of a label-free integrated optofluidic sensor with a fluidic gap that modulates the optical coupling between two waveguides and show that there is an optimal fluidic gap that maximizes sensitivity for a given optical mode coupling through the gap. We also describe the effect of waveguide parameters on sensor sensitivity.