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Due to its closed-loop structure, the silicon microring resonator can have a very high quality factor value and its output
intensity is very sensitive to different wavelengths. These characters, plus the potential in CMOS compatible fabrication
process, are making the silicon microring resonator a key building block of photonic integrated circuits for the
applications of filtering, switching, modulation, and wavelength conversion. In parallel, the silicon microring resonator
has also been proposed as a compact and highly sensitive optical sensor. In recent years, microring sensing related
research and development has been growing consistently and rapidly for the purposes of environment monitoring, health
diagnosis, and drug development. This article will firstly review the recent development in silicon microring sensors,
which are mainly concentrated in two areas: to improve the sensitivity and to enhance selectivity. In order to have better
understanding of this class of sensors, the basic structure of the microring sensors, its working principle, and its unique
properties will be described. Then, our own works, in particular, the methods to improve dynamic range, sensitivity, and
stability of the silicon microring sensors, will be presented. By studying the fundamental optical properties of the
coupled microring resonators, novel silicon microring sensors with better and more reliable sensing performance are
constructed. Finally, through studying the interactions between chemistry and optics, acceleration and optics, the specific
applications in glucose sensing and seismic sensing are discussed.
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