Grating couplers for planar silver halide waveguides were designed and fabricated by using focused ion beam (FIB) milling technology, facilitating coupling of mid-infrared radiation from quantum cascade lasers into thin-film waveguide structures. An optimized rectangular grating structure for an emitted wavelength of 10.4 μm, with a grating constant of 16.4 μm was integrated into a silver halide waveguide substrate via an optimized FIB fabrication procedure. Efficient uncoupling and radiation propagation through the waveguide was confirmed by analyzing droplets of acetic acid at different concentrations, deposited at the waveguide surface via evanescent field absorption spectroscopy.
SubbaramanH.. “Efficient Light Coupling into In-Plane Semiconductor Nanomembrane Photonic Devices Utilizing a Sub-wavelength Grating Coupler”. Opt. Expr.2010. 20(18): 20659–20665.
2.
WeiA.T.ReedG.T.VonsoviciA.EvansA.G.RoutleyP.R.BlackburnT.JoseyM.R.. “Grating Couplers Using Silicon-on-Insulator”. Integr. Opt. Dev.1999. III: 79–86.
3.
MazzacuratiV.BenassiP.RuoccoG.. “A New Class of Multiple Dispersion Grating Spectrometers”. J. Phys. E Sci. Instr.1988. 21(8): 798–804.
4.
TingtinY.ZouL.WangL.HeJ.-J.. “Single-Mode and Wavelength Tunable Lasers Based on Deep-Submicron Slots Fabricated by Standard UV-Lithography”. Opt. Expr.2012. 20(15): 16291–16299.
5.
WangH.ZuH.L.LiaL.H.ChenX.F.WangW.. “Fabrication and Performance of an Index-Coupled DFB Laser with Sampled Grating”. Semicond. Sci. Technol.2009. 24(1): 015001. doi:10.1088/0268-1242/24/1/015001.
KasbergerJ.SaeedA.FromherzT.KatletzS.JakobyB.. “Spectral Resolution of the Grating Coupler of a Miniaturized Integrated Evanescent Field IR Absorption Sensor”. IEEE J. Quantum Electron.2011. 47(7): 950–958.
8.
CharltonC.GiovanniM.FaistJ.MizaikoffB.. “Fabrication and Characterization of Molecular Beam Epitaxy Grown Thin-Film GaAs Waveguides for Mid-Infrared Evanescent Field Chemical Sensing”. Anal. Chem.2006. 78(12): 4224–4227.
9.
WangX.KimS.-S.RossbachR.JetterM.MichlerP.MizaikoffB.. “Ultra-sensitive Mid-Infrared Evanescent Field Sensors Combining Thin-Film Strip Waveguides with Quantum Cascade Lasers”. Analyst.2012. 137(10): 2322–2327.
10.
CharltonC.KatzirA.MizaikoffB.. “Infrared Evanescent Field Sensing with Quantum Cascade Lasers and Planar Silver Halide Waveguides”. Anal. Chem.2005. 77(14): 4398–4403.
QiuW.WangJ.. “Highly Controllable ICP Etching of GaAs-Based Materials for Grating Fabrication”. J. Semiconduct.2012. 33(2): 026001.
13.
LuoC.LiY.SusumuS.. “Fabrication of High Aspect Ratio Subwavelength Gratings Based on X-ray Lithography and Electron-Beam Lithography”. Opt. Laser Technol.2012. 44(6): 1649–1653.
14.
KrohnV.E.RingoG.R.. “Ion Source of High Brightness Using Liquid Metal”. Appl. Phys. Lett.1975. 27: 479–481.
15.
CryanM.HillM.SanzD.C.IvanovP.S.HeardP.J.TianL.SiyuanY.RorisonJ.M.. “Focused Ion Beam–Based Fabrication of Nanostructured Photonic Devices”. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.2006. 11(6): 1266–1277.
16.
Ji ChengA.StecklA.J.. “FIB Fabricated Microgratings for Integrated Optics Applications”. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.2002. 8(6): 1323–1330.
17.
HuyangG.CanningJ.GibsonB.C.KhouryT.SumT.J.NetoC.CrossleyM.J.. “Focused Ion Beam Processing and Engineering of Devices in Self-assembled Supramolecular Structures”. Nanotechnology.2009. 20(48). 485301. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/20/48/485301.
18.
MoharamM.GrannB.J.PommetD.A.GaylordT.K.. “Formulation for Stable and Efficient Implementation of the Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis of Binary Gratings”. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A.1995. 12(5): 1068–1076.
19.
van KraaijM.. “Comparison of the Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis and Multiple Shooting”. Proc. 13th European Conference on Mathematics for Industry, ECMI. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands: Jun 21-25, 2004.
20.
MoharamM.GaylordT.K.. “Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis of Planar-Grating Diffraction”. J. Opt. Soc. Am.1981. 71: 811–818.
