Design Optimization and Fabrication of Graphene/J-Aggregate Kretschmann-Raether Devices for Refractive Index Sensing Using Plasmon-Induced Transparency Phenomena

Abstract

Here, a novel plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) sensing platform based on a Kretschmann-Raether configuration with graphene/ J-aggregate materials is proposed. The J-aggregate material, despite its dielectric optical properties, can strongly confine the surface wave-like metal layers. These features promise to highly enlarge the range of plasmonic sensing devices. Therefore, the sensing parameters have been numerically and experimentally investigated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that the PIT resonance of the structure has a sharp reflection, in turn, leads to high sensitivity. To deep benchmark the structure the effects of the structural parameters and environmental variables such as temperature and magnetic field on the sensing properties of the device are analyzed in detail. The maximum sensitivity is obtained as high as 1400 angle per refractive-index unit (RIU) with an extra high figure of merit of 36 RIU -1 around the PIT resonance angle of 53 . By considering the magnetic field of 0.01T and graphene chemical potential of c=0.4 eV, and environmental room temperature, the proposed structure may potentially be applied in advanced off-chip PIT sensors.