High-Q, low index-contrast polymeric photonic crystal nanobeam cavities
  We present the design, fabrication and characterization of high-\emph{Q} (\emph{Q}=36,000) polymeric photonic crystal nanobeam cavities made of two polymers that have an ultra-low index contrast (ratio=1.15) and observed thermo-optical bistability at hundred microwatt power level. Due to the extended evanescent field and small mode volumes, polymeric nanobeam cavities are ideal platform for ultra-sensitive biochemical sensing. We demonstrate that these sensors have figures of merit (FOM=9190) two orders of magnitude greater than surface plasmon resonance based sensors, and outperform the commercial Biacore$^{\mathrm{TM}}$ sensors. The demonstration of high-Q cavity in low-index-contrast polymers can open up versatile applications using a broad range of functional and flexible polymeric materials. 
Qimin Quan, Ian B. Burgess, Sindy K. Y. Tang, Daniel L. Floyd and   Marko Loncar
physics.optics cond-mat.mtrl-sci quant-ph