Improving solid to hollow core transmission for integrated ARROW waveguides

Optical sensing platforms based on anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguides (ARROWs) with hollow cores have been used for bioanalysis and atomic spectroscopy. These integrated platforms require that hollow waveguides interface with standard solid waveguides on the substrate to couple light into and out of test media. Previous designs required light at these interfaces to pass through the anti-resonant layers. We present a new ARROW design which coats the top and sides of the hollow core with only SiO(2), allowing for high interface transmission between solid and hollow waveguides. The improvement in interface transmission with this design is demonstrated experimentally and increases from 35% to 79%. Given these parameters, higher optical throughputs are possible using single SiO(2) coatings when hollow waveguides are shorter than 5.8 mm. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America