D-shape polymer optical fibres for surface plasmon resonance sensing

We experimentally studied three different D-shape polymer optical fibres with an exposed core for their applications as surface plasmon resonance sensors. The first one was a conventional D-shape fibre with no microstructure while in two others the fibre core was surrounded by two rings of air holes. In one of the microstructured fibres we introduced special absorbing inclusions placed outside the microstructure to attenuate leaky modes. We compared the performance of the surface plasmon resonance sensors based on the three fibres. We showed that the fibre bending enhances the resonance in all investigated fibres. The measured sensitivity of about 610 nm/RIU for the refractive index of glycerol solution around 1.350 is similar in all fabricated sensors. However, the spectral width of the resonance curve is significantly lower for the fibre with inclusions suppressing the leaky modes.     

用表面等离子体共振传感器检测纳米间距

结合物理光学原理和表面等离子体共振（SPR）角度传感器,提出了可以突破衍射极限的纳米间距检测方法。在理论上建立起纳米间距和位相改变量之间的函数关系,借助于SPR角度传感器的高灵敏性,提出通过检测出射光束振动方向的p分量和s分量的位相差值来实现纳米间距的实时检测。模拟结果显示：纳米间距改变量从-0.5～0.5μm变化时,位相改变量可实现-150°～150°的变化,检测灵敏度〉1 nm。该检测方法能够实现10 nm以下间距的灵敏检测,且具有结构简单,易于操作,实时检测的特点。     

Real-time phase-shift detection of the surface plasmon resonance

We have investigated a method to directly measure the phase of a laser beam reflected from a metallic film after excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. This method permits real-time access to the phase information, it increases the possible speed of data acquisition, and it may thus prove useful for increasing the sensitivity of surface plasmon based sensors.     

新型强度检测型表面等离子共振传感器的研究

针对角度检测型表面等离子共振传感器结构复杂,不易于实现在线测量的特点,基于表面等离子共振(SPR)原理,提出了采用双LED进行差分光强检测折射率变化的方法。设计了参考光路,可以消除光源波动带来的影响。理论分析及实验表明,这种方法比单LED光强检测方法的灵敏度提高了近1倍。由于没有使用角度检测装置及光谱仪,易于实现仪器的小型化。     

金属表面等离体子振荡

深入浅出地分析了金属表面等离体子振荡形成的机理，利用拉普拉斯方程得到了半无限金属、金属薄膜和球状纳米金属颗粒的表面等离体子振荡频率。     

基于表面等离子体共振传感器的金胶体表征

设计了表面等离子体共振(SPR)传感器实验装置,制备了金膜和金纳米胶体溶液,测量了不同厚度金膜和不同浓度金胶体溶液的SPR角谱,得到了不同浓度金胶体溶液的折射率.     

Optical measurement of neural activity using surface plasmon resonance

We demonstrate that surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is applicable to the optical detection of neural signals. A low-noise SPR sensor was developed as a label- and artifact-free method for the extracellular recording of neural activity. The optical responses obtained from a rat sciatic nerve were highly correlated with simultaneously recorded electrical responses. Additional studies with stimulation intensity and lidocaine further confirmed that the optically measured signals originated from neural activities.     

Evanescent Bessel beam generation via surface plasmon resonance excitation by a radially polarized beam

A simple setup for generating evanescent Bessel beams is proposed. When a radially polarized beam is strongly focused onto a dielectric-metal interface, the entire beam is p-polarized with respect to the dielectric-metal interface, enabling excitation of surface plasmons from all directions. The angular selectivity of surface plasmon excitation mimics the function of an axicon, leading to an evanescent nondiffracting Bessel beam. The created evanescent Bessel beam may be used as a virtual probe for near-field optical imaging and sensing applications.     

基于表面等离子体激元共振的飞秒抽运探测技术研究

对基于表面等离子体激元共振（SPR）的飞秒抽运探测技术进行了系统地数字分析.计算结果表明,利用SPR技术可将飞秒抽运探测信号强度ΔR/R提高2—3个数量级,其提高的比例依赖于金属膜的厚度和探测光的入射角,其中R和ΔR分别为探测光反射率的总量和变化量.特别地,对于金属-吸收介质体系,金属膜的介电常数变化对ΔR的影响仅为吸收介质影响的2%,所以ΔR/R主要反应吸收介质中的动力学过程,因此该技术对研究表面和界面的超 关键词： 超快光学 表面等离子体共振 飞秒抽运探测技术 信号强度     

Single-beam self-referenced phase-sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor with high detection resolution

A versatile and low-cost single-beam self-referenced phase-sensitive surface plasmon resonance(SPR)sensing system with ultra-high resolution performance is presented.The system exhibits a root-mean-square phase fluctuation of ±0.0028.over a period of 45 min.i.e.a resolution of±5.2×10-9 refractive index units.The enhanced performance has been achieved through the incorporation of three design elements:a true single-beam configuration enabling complete self-referencing so that only the phase change associated with SPR gets detected,a differential measurement scheme to eliminate spurious signals not related to the sensor response,and the elimination of retardation drifts by incorporating temperature stabilization in the liquid crystal phase modulato .Our design should bring the detection sensitivity of non-labeling SPR biosensing closer to that achievable by conventional fluorescence-based techniques.     

Pulsed-laser generation of gold nanoparticles with on-line surface plasmon resonance detection

Size of nanoparticles is an important parameter for their applications. The real-time monitoring is required for reliable and reproducible production of nanoparticles with controllable size. We present results of our research on development of the system for the online nanoparticle characterization during their production by a laser. The laser ablation chamber which allows measurements of surface plasmon resonance spectra during the nanoparticle generation process has been designed and fabricated. The online characterization system was tested by producing and modification of gold nanoparticles. Nanoparticles were generated by nanosecond-laser (wavelength 1064 nm) ablation of gold target in deionized water, and optimal conditions for the highest nanoparticle productivity were estimated. The mean diameter of nanoparticles was determined using their absorption spectra measured in the real-time during the ablation experiments and from the TEM images analysis, and it varied from 20 to 45 nm. The mismatch between nanoparticle diameters, estimated using these two methods, is due to the polydispersity of the generated nanoparticles. The further experiments of laser-induced modification of colloidal gold nanoparticles were carried out using second harmonic (wavelength 532 nm) of nanosecond Nd:YAG laser and alteration in nanoparticle size were acquired by the online measurement system.     

In vivo optical neural recording using fiber-based surface plasmon resonance

We propose an intrinsic optical method for in vivo neural recording using optic fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomena. The fiber-based SPR method is electrical artifact free, labeling free, and feasible for a portable system compared with conventional in vivo neural recording systems. We simultaneously detected SPR signals and electrical neural activity from the rat somatosensory cortex evoked by electrical stimulation on the forepaw. Pharmacological analysis using a voltage-gated sodium channel blocker confirmed the neural origins of the optical signals. This fiber-based SPR system promises the enhanced ability to record in vivo neural activity for the investigation of neurons and their networks.     

Low-cost,high performance surface plasmon resonance-compatible films characterized by the surface plasmon resonance technique

A new analytical method based on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique is presented, with which SPR curves for both wavelength and angular modulations can be obtained simultaneously via only a single scan of the incident angle. Using this method, the SPR responses of TiO2-coated Cu films are characterized in the wavelength range from 600 nm to 900 nm. For the first time, we determine the effective optical constants and the thicknesses of TiO2-coated Cu films using the SPR curves of wavelength modulation. The sensitivities of prism-based SPR refractive index sensors using TiO2-coated Cu films are investigated theoretically for both wavelength and angular modulations, the results show that in the case of sensitivity with wavelength modulation, TiO2-coated Cu films are not as good as the Au film, however, they are more suitable than the Au film for SPR refractive index sensors with angular modulation because a higher sensitivity can be achieved.     

Polarization-independent on-axis light coupler for surface plasmon resonance using a concentric chirped grating

A novel on-axis one-element polarization-independent light in- and out-coupling mechanism for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is proposed. The system utilizes an integrated high-NA concentric chirped grating to both focus the incident light on the metallic film and collimate the reflected beam onto a CCD array to extract the SPR signal. With NA up to 1.47, a broad sensing dynamic range from n=1 to 1.35 can be achieved. An analytical model is implemented to demonstrate the dependency of the radial location of the resonances on the detecting substance and its sensitivity to the change of the refractive index. The model shows a trend similar to rigorous ray-tracing calculations.     

High surface plasmon resonance sensitivity enabled by optical disks

We report a systematic, experimental, and theoretical investigation on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing using optical disks with different track pitches, including Blu-ray disk (BD), digital versatile disk (DVD), and compact disk (CD). Optical reflection measurements indicate that CD and DVD exhibit much higher SPR sensitivity than BD. Both experiments and finite-difference time-domain simulations reveal that the SPR sensitivity is significantly affected by the diffraction order of the SPR peaks and higher diffraction order results in lower sensitivity. Numerical simulations also show that very high sensitivity (～1600 nm per refractive index unit) is achievable by CDs.     

Multipole surface plasmon resonance of an aluminium surface

The surface photoelectric effect and the surface plasmon resonances appear when a p/transverse magnetic polarized laser hits a gas-solid interface. We model this effect in the long wave length (LWL) domain (λ_vac > 10 nm, ?ω < 124 eV) by combining the Ampère-Maxwell equation, written in classical approximation, with the material equation for the susceptibility. The resulting model, called the vector potential from the electron density (VPED), calculates the susceptibility as a product of the bulk susceptibility and the electron density of the actual system. The bulk susceptibility is a sum of the bound electron scalar susceptibility taken from the experiment and of the conduction electron non-local isotropic susceptibility tensor in a jellium metal (Lindhard, 1954 [1]). The electron density is the square of the wave function solution of the Schrödinger equation. The analysis of observables, the reflectance R and the photoelectron yield Y as well as the induced charge density permits to identify and characterize the multipole surface plasmon resonance of Al(111) appearing at ω_m ∼ 0.8ω_p or 11-12 eV.     

利用表面等离子体共振效应确定金纳米棒的尺寸

金属纳米粒子的尺寸和形状对其物理和化学性质有很大影响,通常利用昂贵的透射电子显微镜和扫描电子显微镜进行其尺寸测量。为了节约测量成本,利用时域有限差分法研究了金纳米棒的尺寸与吸收峰的对应关系得到间接的测量方法。即当金纳米棒的纵横比增大时,横向等离子峰几乎没有变化,纵向等离子峰出现明显的红移,且红移速度随着金纳米棒半径的增大而增大。实际制备了两种不同尺寸的金纳米棒样品,通过理论模拟确定的金纳米棒的尺寸与利用透射电子显微镜测量的金纳米棒的尺寸符合的很好。     

Quantitative model for the change of optical resonance in neural activity detection systems based on surface plasmon resonance

The mechanism of neural activity detection using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon was theoretically explored in this paper. Investigating the mechanism of SPR neural recordings has been difficult due to the complex relationship between different physiological and physical processes such as excitation of a nerve fiber and coherent charge fluctuations on the metal surface. This paper examines how these different processes may be connected by introducing a set of compartmental theoretical models that deal with the molecular scale phenomena; Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation, which was used to describe the ion concentration change under the time varying electrostatic potential, Drude-Lorentz electron model, which was used to describe electron dynamics under the time varying external forces, and a Fresnel's three-layered model, which expresses the reflectivity of the SPR system in terms of the dielectric constants. Each physical theoretical model was numerically analyzed using the finite element method (FEM) formulated for the PB equation and the Green's method formulated for the Drude-Lorentz electron equation. The model predicts that the ionic thermal force originating from the opening of the K⁺ ion channel is fundamental for modifying the dipole moment of the gold's free electron; thus, the reflectivity is changed in the SPR system. The discussion was done also on important attributes of the SPR signal such as biphasic fluctuation and the electrical noise-free characteristics.     

Surface plasmon resonance detection using amorphous carbon/Au multilayer structure

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can be used to detect the change in reflective index on a metal surface. In this report, we propose detection of the SPR can easily be applied to estimate the thickness of the amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films. To detect changes in film thickness using SPR, devices with an a-C:H/Au structure were fabricated. The a-C:H films were deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) and sputtering, and the obtained film densities were 1.4 and 1.6 g/cm³, respectively. By the deposition of an 11-nm thick a-C:H film on a Au layer by sputtering, the SPR angle changed from 44.90° to 47.05°. For a-C:H deposited by ECR-CVD, the SPR angle was shifted from 44.24° for Au without the a-C:H layer to 58.44° after deposition of 45 nm thick a-C:H film. In both systems of the SPR angle increased with increasing the film thickness. The rate at which the SPR angle shifted depended on the a-C:H film density. These results show that the thickness of an a-C:H film can be determined by the SPR angle shift on an a-C:H layer using a-C:H/Au device with an a-C:H film of the same density.     

Non-contact method for measuring solution concentration using surface plasmon resonance apparatus and heterodyne interferometry

A simple non-contact method is proposed for measuring the concentration of solutions. Using the significant phase difference between p- and s-polarizations of the reflected light of a surface plasmon resonance apparatus, the variation in the phase difference, which is caused by a variation in the concentration of a test solution, can be accurately measured by common path heterodyne interferometry. Then, by substituting the corresponding variation in the incident angle of light at the base of the SPR prism in a specially derived equation, the concentration of the test solution can be determined. The validity of this method was demonstrated experimentally. This method is characterized by the advantages of the device having a simple non-contact structure; it being easy to operate; and its high accuracy, stability, and resolution.