A Novel Approach to Realizing Low-Cost Plasmonic Optical Fiber Sensors: Light-Diffusing Fibers Covered by Thin Metal Films

Abstract

We have investigated, in a numerical and experimental way, a refractive index (RI) sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in a silver-coated light-diffusing fiber (LDF). The experimental tests were conducted using water-glycerine mixtures with refractive indices ranging from 1.332 to 1.388. In the considered refractive index range, the experimental results show a sensitivity of the SPR wavelength to the outer medium’s RI ranging from 2600 to 4700 nm/RIU, which is larger than the sensitivity recently reported for a gold-coated LDF sensor (1200 to 4000nm/RIU). The silver-coated sensor is also shown to ensure a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to the gold-coated sensor.

Flexible and Ultrathin Metal-Oxide Films for Multiresonance-Based Sensors in Plastic Optical Fibers

“…Along this line, several configurations have been exploited in literature, like the ones based on Dshaped fibers [14][15][16][17], tapered fibers [18][19][20][21], U-bent fibers [22,23], and many others [24][25][26]. In the last years, in order to improve the performances of SPR sensors based on optical fiber, several measures have been adopted, like, for instance, by using ultra-thin films graphene-based, that have led to excellent results [27][28][29].…”

“…To realize even more efficient sensor systems, SPR, LSPR, and LMR can be coupled with optical fibers so taking advantage of the excellent properties related to these guiding structures, such as immunity to electromagnetic interferences, the possibility of remote sensing, and so on. − Along this line, several configurations have been exploited in the literature, such as the ones based on D-shaped fibers, − tapered fibers, − U-bent fibers, , and many others. − In the last years, to improve the performances of SPR sensors based on optical fiber, several measures have been adopted, such as, for instance, using ultrathin-film graphene-based, that have led to excellent results. − …”

The Role of Tapered Light-Diffusing Fibers in Plasmonic Sensor Configurations

“…Different kinds of light-diffusing fibers (LDFs) have recently shown their potentiality as plasmonic sensors [30][31][32]. This class of optical fibers is characterized by the fact that light is scattered out of the fiber all along its length due to light-scattering centers in its core.…”

Green LSPR Sensors Based on Thin Bacterial Cellulose Waveguides for Disposable Biosensor Implementation

“…Thanks to their reduced size and low cost, they have been the object of research interest in many research fields, in conjunction with multiple receptor types [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Research has been, also, performed in order to optimize the efficiency and the performances of these sensors in terms of reliability, robustness and miniaturization [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Both intrinsic and extrinsic optical fiber sensors can be simply realized.…”