Highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance temperature sensor based on a hollow core fiber multilayer structure

Abstract

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) temperature sensor based on a hollow core fiber (HCF) is designed in this paper. The sensor is composed of a multi-mode fiber (MMF)-HCF-MMF structure, and the self-made HCF is deposited successively with a thin layer of Au film (50 nm in thickness), gold nanoparticles (10 nm in diameter) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). A series of theoretical and experimental investiagtions are conducted, and the results are as follows: the proposed sensing structure only with Au film can effectively excite the SPR effect, with a sensitivity of (2200 ± 100) nm / RIU in the refractive index (RI) range of 1.3334-1.3811; after adding AuNPS, the sensitivity of the sensor is effectively improved, the sensitivity can be increased to (3100 ± 100) nm / RIU, and after the PDMS coating, temperature sensing can be realized due to its unique temperature-sensitive characteristics, a linear sensitivity of (−2.1 ± 0.1) nm / °C is realized in the temperature range of 25 °C to 100 °C. The sensor has the advantages of simple structure, wide application, large measurement range, high sensitivity, good stability and repeatability. Meanwhile, the internal air hole of HCF leaves a preparation channel for dual-parameter measurement. It has broad application prospect in medical treatment, environmental monitoring and manufacturing industry.