High-sensitivity quasi-periodic photonic crystal biosensor based on multiple defective modes

Abstract

The sensitivities of the octagonal quasi-periodic photonic crystal (QPC) defective modes are theoretically studied. The octagonal QPC biosensors are composed of silicon columns arranged in a liquid background. By designing a defect structure, a variety of localized modes with different spatial symmetries and field profiles are obtained, and a maximum refractive index sensitivity 800 nm/RIU is achieved around 1500 nm transmission peak when the central rod's size equals 100 nm, and the corresponding detection limit reaches 0.00042. The liquid can flow freely among the rods through the entire structure, so it is convenient to monitor the concentration of protein in the liquid environment dynamically. The influence of the protein's thickness to the shift of the resonant wavelength is also studied, where a minimum protein's thickness of less than 10 nm can be detected by optimizing the central column's size to be 400 nm, and the spatial field profiles of different resonant modes are analyzed to explain the corresponding sensitivities.