Planar chalcogenide glass waveguides for IR evanescent wave sensors

Multi-layered chalcogenide glass waveguide structures have been fabricated for evanescent wave sensing of bio-toxins and other sensor applications. Thin films of Ge containing chalcogenides have been deposited onto Si substrates, with a-GeSe₂ as the lower cladding layer and a-GeSbSe as the core layer, to form the slab waveguide. The absence of a defined upper cladding layer enhances the leakage necessary to sense the target molecules. Modal refractive index is estimated from the m-lines. It is shown that photo-induced structural changes by 808 nm laser light in the core layer selectively enhance refractive index in the exposed regions, and thus provide a convenient method to form channel waveguides. A thin layer of Au has been deposited on top of the core layer for the attachment of linker molecules for biosensor application; ATR confirms this.