Plasmonic Fiber Optic Refractometric Sensors: From Conventional Architectures to Recent Design Trends

Abstract

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) fiber sensor research has grown since the first demonstration over 20 year ago into a rich and diverse field with a wide range of optical fiber architectures, plasmonic coatings, and excitation and interrogation methods. Yet, the large diversity of SPR fiber sensor designs has made it difficult to understand the advantages of each approach. Here, we review SPR fiber sensor architectures, covering the latest developments from optical fiber geometries to plasmonic coatings. By developing a systematic approach to fiber-based SPR designs, we identify and discuss future research opportunities based on a performance comparison of the different approaches for sensing applications.

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].…”

A Large Detection-Range Plasmonic Sensor Based on An H-Shaped Photonic Crystal Fiber

“…The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon has been widely studied and applied in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and biochemical research due to its high sensitivity, real-time and label-free monitoring [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Most commercial SPR sensors are based on a prism structure.…”

Significantly enhanced sensitivity using a gold aperture arrays-dielectric hybrid structure in optical fiber sensor

“…This combination of SPR and optical fiber would have the possibility to far extend the scope of plasmonic utilization in biological and chemical communities. Several types of OFS based on SPR with different structures, including the D-shape [10] and based on EOT [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] has been demonstrated experimentally and theoretically.…”