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Optomechanical cantilever device for displacement sensing and variable attenuator

Optomechanical cantilever device for displacement sensing and variable attenuator
Optomechanical cantilever device for displacement sensing and variable attenuator
An optomechanical double cantilever device has been fabricated with applications as a displacement sensor and variable attenuator. The device is based on a silica glass on silicon substrate. A novel fabrication approach using a precision dicing saw is used, which has benefits in terms of cost, fabrication time and energy consumption compared to cleanroom based lithography techniques. The silica cantilevers contain integrated optical waveguides and Bragg gratings fabricated using a Direct UV Writing process. The cantilevers are deflected out of plane by thin film stress effects, providing a suitable geometry for use in sensing. Displacement causes both cantilevers to move simultaneously resulting in variable coupling due to the angular alignment of the waveguide modes. Using a developed ratiometric approach based on fitting to Gaussian apodized Bragg gratings, the measured displacement is completely independent of fluctuations in light source power as well as insensitive to detector noise. The device is optically interrogated at a wavelength band around 1550nm. As a sensor the device has a sensitivity of 0.8 dB/micron and can be accurately modelled using fiber optic coupling misalignment theory. When operating as an attenuator, a suppression ratio of over 20dB can be obtained. If combined with integrated optical components such as X-couplers, multiple double cantilever arrays can be placed on the same chip for distributed sensing. We will report detailed fabrication procedures as well as optical characterization of the device including the performance metrics of the force sensor.
Cooper, P.A.
29354b98-c117-4ace-9ca4-1d3ad531485f
Carpenter, L.G.
0daa548e-0d42-4b06-b914-45bfbec41759
Mennea, P.
d994ba05-bcc1-4be3-8ba1-439fb1535a3f
Holmes, C.
16306bb8-8a46-4fd7-bb19-a146758e5263
Gates, J.C.
b71e31a1-8caa-477e-8556-b64f6cae0dc2
Smith, P.G.R.
8979668a-8b7a-4838-9a74-1a7cfc6665f6
Cooper, P.A.
29354b98-c117-4ace-9ca4-1d3ad531485f
Carpenter, L.G.
0daa548e-0d42-4b06-b914-45bfbec41759
Mennea, P.
d994ba05-bcc1-4be3-8ba1-439fb1535a3f
Holmes, C.
16306bb8-8a46-4fd7-bb19-a146758e5263
Gates, J.C.
b71e31a1-8caa-477e-8556-b64f6cae0dc2
Smith, P.G.R.
8979668a-8b7a-4838-9a74-1a7cfc6665f6

Cooper, P.A., Carpenter, L.G., Mennea, P., Holmes, C., Gates, J.C. and Smith, P.G.R. (2014) Optomechanical cantilever device for displacement sensing and variable attenuator. Photonics West 2014, , San Francisco, United States. 01 - 06 Feb 2014. (doi:10.1117/12.2039806).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

An optomechanical double cantilever device has been fabricated with applications as a displacement sensor and variable attenuator. The device is based on a silica glass on silicon substrate. A novel fabrication approach using a precision dicing saw is used, which has benefits in terms of cost, fabrication time and energy consumption compared to cleanroom based lithography techniques. The silica cantilevers contain integrated optical waveguides and Bragg gratings fabricated using a Direct UV Writing process. The cantilevers are deflected out of plane by thin film stress effects, providing a suitable geometry for use in sensing. Displacement causes both cantilevers to move simultaneously resulting in variable coupling due to the angular alignment of the waveguide modes. Using a developed ratiometric approach based on fitting to Gaussian apodized Bragg gratings, the measured displacement is completely independent of fluctuations in light source power as well as insensitive to detector noise. The device is optically interrogated at a wavelength band around 1550nm. As a sensor the device has a sensitivity of 0.8 dB/micron and can be accurately modelled using fiber optic coupling misalignment theory. When operating as an attenuator, a suppression ratio of over 20dB can be obtained. If combined with integrated optical components such as X-couplers, multiple double cantilever arrays can be placed on the same chip for distributed sensing. We will report detailed fabrication procedures as well as optical characterization of the device including the performance metrics of the force sensor.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 2014
Venue - Dates: Photonics West 2014, , San Francisco, United States, 2014-02-01 - 2014-02-06
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 363171
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/363171
PURE UUID: 71b1fde0-ffbf-457a-9672-27c1ce49c935
ORCID for C. Holmes: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9021-3760
ORCID for J.C. Gates: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8671-5987
ORCID for P.G.R. Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0319-718X

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Date deposited: 20 Mar 2014 17:06
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:27

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Contributors

Author: P.A. Cooper
Author: L.G. Carpenter
Author: P. Mennea
Author: C. Holmes ORCID iD
Author: J.C. Gates ORCID iD
Author: P.G.R. Smith ORCID iD

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