Review of plasmonic fiber optic biochemical sensors: improving the limit of detection

Abstract

This paper presents a brief overview of the technologies used to implement surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effects into fiber-optic sensors for chemical and biochemical applications and a survey of results reported over the last ten years. The performance indicators that are relevant for such systems, such as refractometric sensitivity, operating wavelength, and figure of merit (FOM), are discussed and listed in table form. A list of experimental results with reported limits of detection (LOD) for proteins, toxins, viruses, DNA, bacteria, glucose, and various chemicals is also provided for the same time period. Configurations discussed include fiber-optic analogues of the Kretschmann-Raether prism SPR platforms, made from geometry-modified multimode and single-mode optical fibers (unclad, side-polished, tapered, and U-shaped), long period fiber gratings (LPFG), tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBG), and specialty fibers (plastic or polymer, microstructured, and photonic crystal fibers). Configurations involving the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) on continuous thin metal layers as well as those involving localized SPR (LSPR) phenomena in nanoparticle metal coatings of gold, silver, and other metals at visible and near-infrared wavelengths are described and compared quantitatively.

Refractive Index Sensing through Surface Plasmon Resonance in Light-Diffusing Fibers

“…We argue that the LDF sensor has a higher sensitivity compared to the HCS due to a higher number of modes internally excited by the Several comparative analyses between different fiber-optic-based SPR sensor configurations (D-shaped fibers, tapered fibers, single-mode fibers, U-shaped fibers, TFBGs fibers, heterocore fibers, etc.) can be found in excellent review papers [4,5,24]. Here, we just compare the performance of our sensor with those of a similar SPR sensor configuration based on an HCS optical fiber (FT300EMT from Thorlabs) [19].…”

“…Fiber-optic SPR sensors meet the demands of time-and space-saving, low sample volume, low cost, high sensitivity, portability, and miniaturization. Therefore, these biosensors have recently been extensively investigated [4][5][6]. Numerous versions have been introduced, exploiting several kinds of optical fibers and/or different manufacture procedures, in an attempt to optimize the sensitivity of the plasmonic sensor platforms [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Thermal annealing of gold coated fiber optic surfaces for improved plasmonic biosensing

“…Furthermore, coupling SPR to fiber optic (FO) technology triggered notable advancements in the field, by offering attractive advantages over the classical prism-based SPR platforms, such as simplicity, portability, cost-effectiveness and miniaturization [2]. FO-SPR sensors were successfully used already in a variety of applications, such as screening for bacterial infections [3], monitoring of environmental water pollution [4] or checking for specific toxins [5] and allergens [6] in food, among others.…”

Analytical study of planar waveguide sensor with a metamaterial guiding layer

“…Environmental monitoring, pharmaceutical industries, and food industries are the other possible fields of applications for waveguide sensors. Moreover, waveguide sensors are used in chemical sensing, biosensing, and biochemical sensing [1][2][3]. Detecting small changes in refractive index of sensing within proximity of sensing layer is the basic precept of optical waveguide sensors.…”