Apparatus for optical measurements on low-index non-solid materials based on arrow waveguides

An optical waveguide, comprising:

• a substrate made of a solid material and multiple layers of solid state material disposed on the substrate;
• a non-solid core extending through at least one of said multiple layers, whereby said non-solid core may be used to contain a sample material;
• a perpendicular waveguide portion for use in injecting light into said non-solid core;
• and
• a sample-injection port in fluid communication with said non-solid core;
• wherein said optical waveguide is generally structured as an anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW).

An optical waveguide, comprising:

• a substrate made of a solid material and multiple layers of solid state material disposed on the substrate;
• a non-solid core extending through at least one of said multiple layers, whereby said non-solid core may be used to contain a sample material;
• a perpendicular waveguide portion for use in injecting light into said non-solid core;
• and
• a sample-injection port in fluid communication with said non-solid core;
• wherein said substrate comprises Silicon (Si) and said multiple layers include SiO2 and SiN;
• wherein said non-solid core has an index of refraction which is lower than the index of refraction of the surrounding solid-state material;
• and wherein said optical waveguide is generally structured as an anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW).

An optical waveguide generally structured as an anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW), comprising:

• a substrate and multiple layers of solid state material, including SiO2 and SiN, disposed on the substrate, and a non-solid core extending through at least one of said multiple layers, wherein said non-solid core has an index of refraction which is lower than the index of refraction of the surrounding solid-state material, and wherein light can be transmitted with low loss through the non-solid core;
• a Fabry-Perot reflector adjacent to said non-solid core, for substantially preventing light from leaking out of said core in a transverse direction;
• a perpendicular waveguide portion for use in injecting light into said non-solid core for measuring fluorescence characteristics associated with the sample material;
• and
• a sample-injection port for injecting a fluid into said non-solid core, said sample injection port being oriented substantially perpendicularly with respect to a longitudinal axis of said non-solid core;
• whereby said non-solid core may be used to contain a sample material whose light transmission, absorption, and/or interference characteristics are to be measured.