Dual-polarized highly sensitive plasmonic sensor in the visible to near-IR spectrum

Abstract

We propose and numerically characterize the optical characteristics of a novel photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor in the visible to near infrared (500-2000 nm) region for refractive index (RI) sensing. The finite element method (FEM) is used to design and study the influence of different geometric parameters on the sensing performance of the sensor. The chemically stable plasmonic material gold (Au) is used to produce excitation between the core and plasmonic mode. On a pure silica (SiO 2) substrate, a rectangular structured core is used to facilitate the coupling strength between the core and the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode and thus improves the sensing performance. By tuning the geometric parameters, simulation results show a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 58000 nm/RIU (Refractive Index Unit) for the x polarization and 62000 nm/RIU for the y polarization for analyte refractive indices ranging from 1.33 to 1.43. Moreover, we characterize the amplitude sensitivity of the sensor that shows a maximum sensitivity of 1415 RIU −1 and 1293 RIU −1 for the x and y polarizations, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the highest sensitivity for an SPR in published literature, and facilitates future development of sensors for accurate and precise analyte measurement. The sensor also attains a maximum figure of merit (FOM) of 1140 and fine RI resolution of 1.6 × 10 −6. Owing to strong coupling strength, high sensitivity, high FOM and improved sensing resolution, the proposed sensor is suited for real-time, inexpensive and accurate detection of biomedical and biological analytes, biomolecules, and organic chemicals.

Tunable Mid-Infrared Graphene Plasmonic Cross-Shaped Resonator for Demultiplexing Application

“…The terms of 'surface plasmon' and 'polariton' are respectively involved charge motion in highly conductive matter, and electromagnetic waves in the dielectric or vacuum. The materials which are frequently used in plasmonic structures are typically metals such as silver and gold, which are exploited in various applications such as filters [1][2][3], demultiplexers [4][5][6], sensors [7][8][9], and switches [10][11][12].…”

Sensitivity Enhancement of a Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor with Platinum Diselenide

“…A series of ultrasensitive photonic crystal fiber based surface plasmon resonance fiber sensors have been made by Md. Saiful Islam et al proposed polarization-sensitive sensors that showed a relatively high wavelength sensitivity of 25,000 nm/RIU and a high detection limit [16][17][18]. Wu et al obtained the highest sensitivity of 134.6 • /RIU by using a graphene layer for the SPR biosensor to enhance the sensitivity caused by the light absorbed [15,19].…”

High Sensitivity Refractive Index Sensor Based on the Excitation of Long-Range Surface Plasmon Polaritons in H-Shaped Optical Fiber

“…In addition, we found that varying the DMDW parameters is possible to obtain higher, narrower plasmonic peaks with similar intensities. Finally, we demonstrate that the deposition of the DMDW structure leads to operate at longer wavelengths, which is one of the main constraints of conventional plasmonic devices [29]. Thus, the proposed configuration based on DMDW improves significantly the key parameters of the device, such as the resolution (RES), sensitivity (S n ), full width at half maximum (FWHM) and figure of merit (FOM).…”

“…From this figure it is evident that the deposition of the DMDW improves the energy transfer from the core-guided mode to the symmetric plasmonic mode; consequently, we obtain higher resonant peaks with smaller spectral width. Also, the MOF with DMDW operates at larger wavelengths compared to the MOF without DMDW, which makes this sensor more promising as it will find significant applications in the field of biomedical at near IR region [29]. Figure 4b illustrates the normalized electric field distribution close to resonance condition.…”