Fundamental Study of Multi-Functional Sensors by Using Optical Branching Circuit with Loop Waveguide

Abstract

We have proposed the new multi-functional sensor by using optical branching circuit with loop waveguide. The optical branching circuit consisted of cylindrical and planar slab waveguides fabricated by the ion-exchange process in Pyrex glasses. We discuss the feasibility of the optical branching circuit with loop waveguide from the several essential aspects experimentally such as ion-exchange time, coupling length of branch and refractive index of matching liquid. These experimental results demonstrate that the multi-functional sensor by using the optical branching circuit with loop waveguide has compactness and good sensitivity as compared with the conventional sensors by slab waveguides.