• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2011

In this work, the finite element method was used to investigate the shifts of resonance frequencies and quality factor of whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) for an opto-fluidic ring resonator (OFRR) biosensor. To describe the near-field radiation transfer, the time-domain Maxwell's equations were employed and solved by using the in-plane TE wave application mode of the COMSOL Multiphysics with RF module. The OFRR biosensor model under current study includes a glass capillary with a diameter of 100 mm and wall thickness of 3.0 mm. The resonance energy spectrum curves in the wavelength range from 1545 nm to 1560 nm were examined under different biosensing conditions. We mainly studied the sensitivity of resonance shifts affected by changes in the effective thickness of the sensor resonator ring with a 3.0 mm thick wall, as well as changes in the refractive index (RI) of the medium inside ring resonators with both 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm thick walls. In the bulk RI detection, a sensitivity of 23.1 nm/refractive index units (RIU) is achieved for a 2.5 mm thick ring. In small molecule detection, a sensitivity of 26.4 pm/nm is achieved with a maximum Q-factor of $6.3{\times}10^3$. These results compare favorably with those obtained by other researchers.