Integrated plasmo-photonic sensor device with voltage controled detection and apparatus comprising an array of such sensor devices

A photonic sensor device comprising at least one optical interferometric sensor, wherein a plasmonic slot waveguide is incorporated as a transducer element planar integrated on photonic waveguides, wherein the device comprises:

• a set of high refractive index photonic waveguides (101, 109) arranged on a low refractive index substrate, sandwiched between a low refractive index substrate (111) and a low refractive index cladding, or buried in a low refractive index substrate (207);
• a plasmonic slot waveguide that confines light propagation through coupling to Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPP) at metal-analyte interfaces;
• wherein the plasmonic slot waveguide is defined by opposite inner edges of electrodes (104, 105), and wherein said plasmonic slot waveguide forms a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, acting as a plasmonic slot Mach-Zehnder interferometric sensor, with two plasmonic modes propagating on the opposite inner edges of the electrodes (104, 105) that constitute the plasmonic slot waveguide and that define the Mach-Zehnder Interferometer arms;
• wherein the space between and/or on the electrodes (104, 105) is intended for an analyte to be tested;
• optical coupling structures (102, 107) at both ends of the plasmonic slot Mach-Zehnder interferometric sensor acting as optical input/output from and to photonic waveguides (101, 109):
• an optical splitter (103) and an optical combiner (108) for optical splitting at a first junction (103) of said plasmonic slot Mach-Zehnder interferometric sensor and optical combining at a second junction (108) of said plasmonic slot Mach-Zehnder interferometric sensor;
• and
• a DC voltage source (106;
• 508) that applies a bias voltage to the metal electrodes (104, 105).