Integrated optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer for biosensor application

Abstract

Dengue is an emerging global health problem affecting over half the world’s population. With the rapid pace of population growth and climate change, the population at risk of dengue has reached the figure of 2.5-3.0 billions, approximately 40% of the world’s population. Malaysia, a dengue hyperendemic country located near the equator, is one of the most affected countries by dengue in Western-Pacific region. The national target for the incidence rate of DF/DHF cases, 50 cases per 100,000 populations, has long been exceeded since 2005 until now. Rapid diagnostic test is in great demand ever since, however the current RDT is not sufficient as an effective passive surveillance system due to the high cost and lack of accuracy. Hence, this study aimed to develop a dengue RDT that is not only have the characteristics of point-ofcare (POC) diagnostic but also suits the criteria needed to achieve a large scale disease surveillance in most developing countries where resources are limited. Label-free optical biosensor had been proposed to realized an ideal surveillance RDT. The design of integrated optic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (IO-MZI) biosensor had been carried out based on the simulation and fabrication method. Simulation of IO-MZI was carried out by using three-dimensional finite difference beam propagation method with the aim of sensitivity and detection limit optimization. OptiBPM software is selected because it is user-friendly and it allows three-dimensional simulation which is needed in this research.