Tolerance analysis of photonic crystal substrate used in spectrometer-free photonic crystal enhanced microscopy

We performed a tolerance analysis of a photonic crystal (PC) substrate used in spectrometer-free photonic crystal enhanced microscopy (SFPCEM). SFPCEM is a simplified version of photonic crystal enhanced microscopy and is used for viewing nanoparticles without an expensive spectrometer or a scanning stage. We varied various structural parameters of the PC substrate and determined the change in its spectral behavior in order to find out the tolerance and sensitivity of its final performance to the parameters. We also analyzed the incident light angle dependency of the PC substrate, and in an SFPCEM observation of a nanoparticle, it caused the image of a nanoparticle to be stretched. The tolerance analysis may help to optimize the PC substrate for observing nanoparticles more clearly in SFPCEM and provides the permissible fabrication error boundary for reasonable performance.