Polymer slab waveguides for the optical detection of nanoparticles in evanescent field based biosensors

We present a polymer optical waveguide integration technology for the detection of nanoparticles in an evanescent field based biosensor. In the proposed biosensor concept, super-paramagnetic nanoparticles are used as optical contrast labels. The nanoparticles capture target molecules from a sample fluid and bind to the sensor surface with biological specificity. The surface-bound nanoparticles are then detected using frustration of an evanescent field. In the current paper we elaborate on the polymer waveguides which are used to generate a well-defined optical field for nanoparticle detection.