Integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer on SU-8 polymer for designing pressure sensors

Nicolas Pelletier (1) , Bruno Bêche (2, 3) , Najat Tahani (1) , Lionel Camberlein (1) , Etienne Gaviot (1) , Antoine Goullet (4) , Jean-Pierre Landesman (3) , Joseph Zyss (5)

1 LAUM - Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Université du Mans
2 IUF - Institut universitaire de France
3 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes
4 IMN - Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel
5 LPQM - Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire

This paper describes a new integrated pressure sensor based on a Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer made of SU-8 polymer. Such a device is designed with a view to working in a standard intensity modulation scheme. To this end, the device takes advantage of a differential measurement thanks to a sensing arm of the MZ structure arranged upon a thin membrane actuated by the pressure to be dealt with, while the second arm allows for a reference signal. The combination of both signals out of the optimized structure of the interferometer allows us to detect any change in the optical path as a result of the applied pressure. A prototype is characterized by way of a specific optical bench allowing an efficient end-fire coupling into the sensor. Practical results prove such a design to delineate a promising measurement approach

Domaines: Optique / photonique; Physique Générale [physics.gen-ph]

Nicolas Pelletier, Bruno Bêche, Najat Tahani, Lionel Camberlein, Etienne Gaviot, et al.. Integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer on SU-8 polymer for designing pressure sensors. IEEE Sensors Journal, 2005, 4 pp.640-643. ⟨10.1109/ICSENS.2005.1597780⟩. ⟨hal-01552268⟩