A high sensitive photonic crystal Mach-Zehnder-Interferometer based pressure-sensor

PC-MZI based pressure-sensor is modelled and analyzed in this work. Analysis of the pressure sensor is carried out in two phases. The FEM is used for the stress analysis of the diaphragm. The FDTD-method is carried out for analyzing the electromagnetic field characteristics of MZI resonator. This device works with the principle that when the light propagates in two of its arms, light undergoes a phase difference if one of its arms has differed in optical length from the other. The time taken by the light propagating along the longer arm is larger than that of the shorter arm. The surface average stress is estimated for the applied pressure using the FEM method. The wavelength-shift is observed for the applied pressure at the output port of the PC MZI. The wavelength resolution of 2.25 nm per 1 MPa applied pressure and the Q-factor of 7100 is obtained. The minimum pressure that can be detected by the sensor is about 873 µPa.