High Sensitivity Refractive Index Sensor Based on the Excitation of Long-Range Surface Plasmon Polaritons in H-Shaped Optical Fiber

Abstract

In this paper, we propose and numerically analyze a novel design for a high sensitivity refractive index (RI) sensor based on long-range surface plasmon resonance in H-shaped microstructured optical fiber with symmetrical dielectric-metal-dielectric waveguide (DMDW). The influences of geometrical and optical characteristics of the DMDW on the sensor performance are investigated theoretically. A large RI analyte range from 1.33 to 1.39 is evaluated to study the sensing characteristics of the proposed structure. The obtained results show that the DMDW improves the coupling between the fiber core mode and the plasmonic mode. The best configuration shows 27 nm of full width at half maximum with a resolution close to 1.3 × 10 −5 nm, a high sensitivity of 7540 nm/RIU and a figure of merit of 280 RIU −1 . Additionally, the proposed device has potential for multi-analyte sensing and self-reference when dissimilar DMDWs are deposited on the inner walls of the side holes. The proposed sensor structure is simple and presents very competitive sensing parameters, which demonstrates that this device is a promising alternative and could be used in a wide range of application areas.

Overview of Recent Advances in the Design of Plasmonic Fiber-Optic Biosensors

“…With single mode operation in the vicinity of 1550 nm, they reported a theoretical refractive-index resolution of up to 5 × 10 3 nm/RIU [45]. Gomez-Cardona et al [46] reported an H-shaped micro-structured optical fiber SPR-based biosensor with symmetrical Another possibility in biosensor design using specialty optical fibers is open-structured micro-structured optical fiber sensors in which the grooves can easily be coated with metal, where the analyte is in direct contact with the metal surface [45,46]. Micro-structured H-shaped plasmonic biosensors can be geometrically different from PCFs, a cross-sectional view of generic form of these sensors is illustrated in Figure 17d.…”

“…Using the H-shaped PCF-based plasmonic biosensor, they reported an analyte RI detection range between 1.33 and 1.49, with a maximum sensitivity of 25,900 nm/RIU at an analyte RI range of 1.47-1.48. Another possibility in biosensor design using specialty optical fibers is open-structured microstructured optical fiber sensors in which the grooves can easily be coated with metal, where the analyte is in direct contact with the metal surface [45,46]. Micro-structured H-shaped plasmonic biosensors can be geometrically different from PCFs, a cross-sectional view of generic form of these sensors is illustrated in Figure 17d.…”

“…With single mode operation in the vicinity of 1550 nm, they reported a theoretical refractive-index resolution of up to 5 × 10 3 nm/RIU [45]. Gomez-Cardona et al [46] reported an H-shaped micro-structured optical fiber SPR-based biosensor with symmetrical dielectric-metal-dielectric waveguide. Their proposed sensor has a peak 27 nm of full width at half maximum (FWHM), a high sensitivity of 7540 nm/RIU and figure of merit of 280 RIU −1 [46].…”

“…Another possibility in biosensor design using specialty optical fibers is open-structured micro-structured optical fiber sensors in which the grooves can easily be coated with metal, where the analyte is in direct contact with the metal surface [ 45 , 46 ]. Micro-structured H-shaped plasmonic biosensors can be geometrically different from PCFs, a cross-sectional view of generic form of these sensors is illustrated in Figure 17 d. For example, Erdmanis et al [ 45 ] numerically studied an H-shaped plasmonic micro-structured optical fiber sensor coated with a thin gold layer covered by a uniform titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) layer.…”

Numerical Modeling of a Rectangular Hollow-Core Waveguide for the Detection of Fuel Adulteration in Terahertz Region

“…Likewise, the PCFs had been employed to design a new generation of either passive and active photonic devices for telecommunications [8][9][10][11][12]. On the other hand, the PCFs had also been implemented in sensor devices with high sensitivity and compact size in diverse and promising real-life applications [10,[13][14][15][16][17][18].…”