
We show that fabrication imperfections in silicon nitride photonic crystal waveguides can be used as a resource to efficiently confine light in the Anderson-localised regime and add functionalities to photonic devices. Our results prove that disorder-induced localisation of light can be utilised to realise an alternative class of high-quality optical sensors operating at room temperature. We measure wavelength shifts of optical resonances as large as 15.2 nm, more than 100 times the spectral linewidth of 0.15 nm, for a refractive index change of about 0.38. By studying the temperature dependence of the optical properties of the system, we report wavelength shifts of up to about 2 nm and increases of more than a factor 2 in the quality factor of the cavity resonances, when going from room to cryogenic temperatures. Such a device can allow simultaneous sensing of both local contaminants and temperature variations, monitored by tens of optical resonances spontaneously appearing along a single photonic crystal waveguide. Our findings demonstrate the potential of Anderson-localised light in photonic crystals for scalable and efficient optical sensors operating in the visible and near-infrared range of wavelengths.
Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics, 621, FOS: Physical sciences, Physics - Applied Physics, Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn), Applied Physics (physics.app-ph), Condensed Matter - Disordered Systems and Neural Networks, 530, Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Physics - Optics, Optics (physics.optics)
Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics, 621, FOS: Physical sciences, Physics - Applied Physics, Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn), Applied Physics (physics.app-ph), Condensed Matter - Disordered Systems and Neural Networks, 530, Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall), Physics - Optics, Optics (physics.optics)
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