Trends in the Implementation of Advanced Plasmonic Materials in Optical Fiber Sensors (2010–2020)

Abstract

In recent years, the interaction between light and metallic films have been proven to be a highly powerful tool for optical sensing applications. We have witnessed the development of highly sensitive commercial devices based on Surface Plasmon Resonances. There has been continuous effort to integrate this plasmonic sensing technology using micro and nanofabrication techniques with the optical fiber sensor world, trying to get better, smaller and cost-effective high performance sensing solutions. In this work, we present a review of the latest and more relevant scientific contributions to the optical fiber sensors field using plasmonic materials over the last decade. The combination of optical fiber technology with metallic micro and nanostructures that allow plasmonic interactions have opened a complete new and promising field of study. We review the main advances in the integration of such metallic micro/nanostructures onto the optical fibers, discuss the most promising fabrication techniques and show the new trends in physical, chemical and biological sensing applications.

Bovine Serum Albumin Protein Detection by a Removable SPR Chip Combined with a Specific MIP Receptor

“…Several types of SPR sensors are prism-based (Kretschmann configuration) [5][6][7][8], which need bulky and expensive experimental setups, making it hard for the realization of miniaturized devices for on-field measurements as well as point-of-care (POC) diagnostics devices. Several SPR sensors have been implemented to overcome this issue by taking advantage of optical fibers, both silica glass and plastic ones [9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Optical Processes behind Plasmonic Applications

“…One key difference between chemical plasmonic sensors and plasmonic biosensors is the nature of the analyte [ 151 , 152 , 153 , 154 ]. In chemical plasmonic sensors, the analyte is typically a chemical compound or gas, whereas in plasmonic biosensors, the analyte is a biological molecule, organism, viral protein, RNA, or DNA.…”

Enhanced Photoluminescence of R6G Dyes from Metal Decorated Silicon Nanowires Fabricated through Metal Assisted Chemical Etching

“…The optical properties of metallic nanostructures based on noble materials such as Ag, Au, Pt, and Pd have been studied extensively. In particular, their ability to concentrate light to volumes with subwavelength dimensions led to several proposals for their use in optical sensors [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Among noble metals, silver has attracted a lot of attention as it is a rather inexpensive metal with good optical properties thanks to its narrow plasmon resonance inside the visible spectrum, leading to the use of silver substrates in various applications such as biosensing [ 6 , 7 ], imaging, drug delivery [ 8 ], solar cells [ 9 , 10 ], and catalysis [ 11 ].…”

“…Substrates prepared by the deposition of Ag or Au on nanostructured, pre-patterned surfaces, either lithographically or using templates [ 15 , 37 , 38 ] to produce ordered metallic arrays, are also considered in an effort to improve uniformity over the sensor surface. Many reviews exist in the literature [ 1 , 38 , 39 , 40 ] covering different aspects.…”