Bias-Aware Detection Limits, Calibration Transfer and Matched-Control Robustness Assessment in Dual-Parameter Photonic Refractive-Index and Temperature Sensing: A Coupled Interface-Mode Multilayer Case Study

Dual-parameter photonic sensors are usually reported through a nominal sensitivity and one detection limit, without stating which statistic that limit is or whether it survives transfer between devices. This computational study supplies that evaluation for one structure, a 36-layer one-dimensional multilayer read in transmission, whose Zak-phase-distinct TiO2/SiO2 photonic-crystal sections enclose a 600 nm analyte cavity and a 500 nm thermo-optic reference cavity, each carrying a 5 nm ITO/5 nm TiO2 nanolaminate insert. Two coupled interface resonances at 1517 and 1651 nm, with loaded Q of 232 and 208 and refractive-index (RI) sensitivities of 90.71 and 329.41 nm/RIU, are inverted by a bounded nonlinear calibration to 2.43×10−5 RIU and 0.155°C; the temperature channel reports the device temperature. Probability-of-detection limits at 1% false alarm and 95% detection are 4.36×10−5 RIU and 0.123°C; they are set by the calibration standards and the wavelength reference, not by the linewidth. Transferring one calibration between devices worsens them 81-fold and 203-fold; a three-point per-device correction removes 84–93% of that loss. A trivial control matched on wavelength, Q, transmission, thickness and RI sensitivity shows no topological robustness advantage. Applied to the design itself, the same evaluation shows that the modes are cavity-selected, that hyperbolicity brings no benefit, and that the nanolaminate-free stack is preferred.