Fabrication of sol-gel based planar waveguide grating coupler platforms for use as optical chemical sensors

Integrated optics is becoming one of the most widely researched areas in optical physics. In this paper we describe a simple technique for fabrication of integrated optic units which contain planar waveguides and embossed surface relief grating couplers which may be used as optical chemical sensor platforms. The entire IO unit is fabricated via the sol-gel process. Characterisation of the sensor platform and modal considerations of the waveguide structure and sensor performance will also be presented.