Photonic Sensors, Volume. 6, Issue 1, 78(2016)

Micro-Opto-Mechanical Disk for Inertia Sensing

Ghada H. DUSHAQ*, Tadesse MULUGETA, and Mahmoud RASRAS
Author Affiliations
  • Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, iMicro Center, MASDAR Institute, Building A1, PO Box 54224, Masdar City, United Arab Emirates
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    An optically enabled z-axis micro-disk inertia sensor is presented, which consists of a disk-shaped proof mass integrated on top of an optical waveguide. Numerical simulations show that the optical power of laser beam propagating in a narrow silicon nitride (Si3N4) waveguide located under the disk is attenuated in response to the vertical movement of the micro-disk. The high leakage power of the TM mode can effectively be used to detect a dynamic range of 1 g ? 10 g (g=9.8 m/s2). At lest, the waveguide is kept at a nominal gap of 1 ?m from the proof mass. It is adiabatically tapered to a narrow dimension of W×H = 350×220 nm2 in a region where the optical mode is intended to interact with the proof mass. Furthermore, the bottom cladding is completely etched away to suspend the waveguide and improve the optical interaction with the proof mass. The proposed optical inertia sensor has a high sensitivity of 3 dB/g when a 50 μm-long waveguide is used (normalized sensitivity 0.5 dB/μm2) for the vertical movement detection.

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    Ghada H. DUSHAQ, Tadesse MULUGETA, Mahmoud RASRAS. Micro-Opto-Mechanical Disk for Inertia Sensing[J]. Photonic Sensors, 2016, 6(1): 78

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    Paper Information

    Category: Regular

    Received: Nov. 3, 2015

    Accepted: Nov. 19, 2015

    Published Online: Apr. 12, 2016

    The Author Email: DUSHAQ Ghada H. (gdushaq@masdar.ac.ae)

    DOI:10.1007/s13320-015-0294-4

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