Surface plasmon resonance sensor based on diffraction grating with high sensitivity and high resolution

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on diffraction grating with high sensitivity and high resolution is proposed. The sensitivity of grating coupled SPR sensor based on angular interrogation is enhanced by replacing +1st diffraction order of metallic grating with −1st diffraction order to excite the surface plasmon. To improve the resolution of grating-based SPR sensor, aluminum is used as an SPR-active metal. The reflectivity dip of the Al-based sensor is sharper than an Au-based one, which is the mostly widely used as SPR-active metal. And 3-nm-thick gold film is deposited on the grating surface in order to protect the Al layer from getting oxidized. Numerical simulations show that the sensor not only has high sensitivity and high resolution, but also exhibits good linearity.     

Design of a highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor using aluminum-based diffraction grating

A highly-sensitive grating-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is proposed. The angular interrogation method has been used to study the performance of the sensor, and high sensitivity is obtained if the ?1st diffraction order is used to excite surface plasmon (SP). The sensitivity as well as the width of the SPR curves and reflective amplitude is considered for designing the sensor. Compared with the conventional gold (Au)-based or silver (Ag)-based SPR sensor, it is found that the aluminum (Al)-based sensor has the best performance. The oxidation problem of an Al-based SPR sensor has been addressed by coating it with an ultrathin gold film on the surface. Numerical simulations based on rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) show that the sensitivity of the optimized sensor is 245°/RIU (degree per refractive index unit).     

An experimental correlation study between field–target overlap and sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance biosensors based on sandwiched immunoassays

In this report, we have studied the effectiveness of field–target overlap to evaluate detection sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors. The investigation used theoretical analysis based on the transfer matrix method, which was experimentally confirmed by thin film-based detection in sandwich and reverse sandwich immunoglobulin G (IgG) assays. Both theoretical and experimental results show that strong correlation exists between the overlap and the sensitivity with the coefficient of correlation higher than 95% in all the cases that we have considered. We have also confirmed the correlation in diffraction grating-based SPR measurement of IgG/anti-IgG interactions. The correlation elucidates the mechanism behind the far-field detection sensitivity of SPR biosensors and can lead to the enhancement of SPR biosensing with molecular scale sensitivity.     

High-Sensitivity Sensor Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance Enhanced Lateral Optical Beam Displacements

We present a new optical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance （SPIt） enhanced lateral optical beam displacements. Compared with the traditional SPIt methods, the new method provides higher sensitivity to the sensor system. Theoretical simulations show that the refractive index （RI） detection sensitivity of the SPR sensor based on the displacement measurement has a strong dependence on the thickness of the metal film. When the optimal thickness of the metal film is selected, the RI resolutlon of the SPIt sensor is predicted to be 2.2 × 10^-7 refractive index units （RIU）. Furthermore, it is found that the incidence angle can be used as a parameter to adjust the operating range of the sensor to different refractive index ranges.     

光盘光学系统的矢量衍射理论分析

本文以完整的矢量衍射理论分析了光盘光学系统。首先将入射的聚焦光束分解为平面波谱 ,得到每个平面波的振幅矢量 ;然后计算光盘对每个平面波的衍射 ,得到衍射波的振幅矢量 ,从而得到了整个衍射波场的空间频谱 ;最后计算物镜光瞳上的能通量 ,得到光盘系统的读出信号。在衍射计算中 ,光盘被定义为二维金属光栅 ,根据信息符的不同模型 ,选用坐标变换方法、耦合波方法或模态方法。对于典型的 DVD光学系统来说 ,矢量理论的结论与标量理论相差甚远 ,要得到正确的结果就必须采用矢量衍射理论     

用相移光阑延长高密度数字化视频光盘物镜焦深的研究

提出了一种利用优化了的三带相位型超分辨光阑来延长高密度数字化视频光盘（HD－DVD）的焦深的方法,同时使得聚焦光斑进一步减少,利用该器件可以将高密度数字化视频光盘的焦深延长到目前数字化视频光盘（DVD）的焦深长度,并且轴向强度分布也得到了优化。     

Performance analysis of surface plasmon resonance sensor with high-order absentee layer

A surface plasmon resonance(SPR) sensor with a high-order absentee layer on the top of metallic film is proposed.The performance of the SPR sensor with NaCl, MgO, TiO_2 or AlAs high-order absentee layer is analyzed theoretically. The results indicate that the sensitivity and the full width at half maximum of those SPR sensors decrease with the increasing of the order of absentee layer, but the variation of the figure of merit(FOM) depends on the refractive index of absentee layer.By improving the order of absentee layer with high-refractive-index, the FOM of the SPR sensor can be enhanced. The maximum value of FOM for the SPR sensor with high-order TiO_2(or AlAs) absentee layer is 1.059%(or 2.587%) higher than the one with one-order absentee layer. It is believed the proposed SPR sensor with high-order absentee layer will be helpful for developing the high-performance SPR sensors.     

Optical cavity coupled surface plasmon resonance sensing for enhanced sensitivity

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing system based on the optical cavity enhanced detection tech-nique is experimentally demonstrated. A fiber-optic laser cavity is built with a SPR sensor inside. By measuring the laser output power when the cavity is biased near the threshold point, the sensitivity, defined as the dependence of the output optical intensity on the sample variations, can be increased by about one order of magnitude compared to that of the SPR sensor alone under the intensity interrogation scheme. This could facilitate ultra-high sensitivity SPR biosensing applications. Further system miniaturization is possible by using integrated optical components and waveguide SPR sensors.     

基于有限状态机的光存储伺服系统设计

采用有限状态机描述光存储伺服系统的状态转换过程。有限状态机通过CPLD硬件实现,以控制光学头的运动状态。根据DVD伺服标准的要求,设计超前滞后补偿器对整个伺服环路进行补偿。利用标准光学头和标准盘片对整个伺服系统进行了测试。测试结果表明,该伺服系统精度较高,聚焦精度小于10%,循迹精度小于20%,对于标准盘片能得到较高的Jitter(<8%)。     

Sensitivity enhancement of surface plasmon resonance sensor using continuous film metallic gratings

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on continuous film metallic gratings is numerically investigated for enhance sensitivity. The results calculated by rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) present that interplays between localized surface plasmons and surface plasmons polaritons contribute to sensitivity enhancement. The sensitivity enhancement factor (SEF), which represents the influence of metallic grating, increased as the grating period decreased. In addition, several reflection dips can be achieved as the period of metallic grating increased. By double-dips method, the sensitivity SPR sensor based on continuous film grating-based is improved into 153.23°/RIU, which is more sensitive than conventional thin film-based SPR sensor in the same condition. The SPR sensor based on continuous film metallic gratings exhibits good linearity.     

Enhancement of the sensitivity of a diffraction-grating-based surface plasmon resonance sensor utilizing the first-and negative-second-order diffracted lights

To carry out precise measurements of refractive indices of nanocomposite materials, we propose a metal-diffraction-grating-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor (G-SPRS). In the G-SPRS, two SPR dips on the angular spectrum produced by two diffracted lights, the orders of which are first and negative second are utilized in a differential manner to enhance sensitivity in measurements. The principle of the G-SPRS is explained with reference to the dispersion relation of the surface plasmon induced on the metal grating. To improve precision in measurements, the fill factor of the rectangular-grooved grating is optimized. The effect of the depth of the groove on the precision is also discussed. From numerical simulations based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method, we found that the sensitivity of the proposed sensor was enhanced more than 3 times in comparison with that of the conventional sensor.     

Thermal behavior of surface plasmon resonance in dynamic suprastructure multilayer

Delicate thermodynamic control at confined space has been of importance in recent nano/micro-plasmonic sensing to be more accurate and to use lower quantity of specimens than conventional devices. In our study, experimental and computational study on thermal behavior of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was carried out using various sizes of Au nanoparticles (NPs; 4, 18, and 57 nm) and thermo-reversible polymer, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) on SPR chip. It was interesting that SPR angle shift on temperature was dependent on NP sizes, where the smaller size the better sensitive. It is probable that both plasmonic interaction and polymer dynamicity were collaboratively affected and presumably the latter dominated in the thermal monitoring of SPR signals. The simulations clearly indicated that the interaction between the Au NPs and polymers was strengthened by increasing temperature and NP sizes, resulting in decreasing sensitivity. These results are supportive to develop further accurate devices using plasmonics and polymer dynamics, such as plasmonic sensing devices, thermo-actuators, hybrid organic solar cell, and flexible display.     

波长调制型表面等离子体共振的传感特性研究

表面等离子体共振(SPR)光学传感器能实现生物医学的快速、 无标记、 高精度检测,是生物化学分析的重要方法。 研制了基于波长调制型的Kretschmann结构表面等离子体共振(SPR)生物传感系统,研究了在体溶液传感方式下的传感性能。 利用不同浓度的乙醇和乙二醇溶液进行体溶液传感测试。 实验结果表明,在折射率低时共振波长对折射率变化响应的灵敏度低,但响应的线性度高;随着折射率增大,共振波长对折射率的响应变化的灵敏度提高。 在1.407 0～1.430 RIU折射率范围内,灵敏度高达11 487 nm·RIU-1。 传感器的共振波长的稳定性为0.213 8 nm,可分辨最小折射率趋近10-6 RIU。 所研制的波长调制型表面等离子共振传感器操作简单、 灵敏度高、 检测范围大,可实现浓度极低生物标记物的有效检测,在化学、 生物传感领域有重要的应用。     

Surface plasmon resonance sensors based on Ag-metalized nanolayer in microstructured optical fibers

Surface plasmon resonance sensors based on Ag-metalized nanolayer in microstructured optical fibers are theoretically analyzed by using finite element method (FEM). In our simulations we use Drude-Lorentz model to describe the metal dielectric constant. The numerical results show that the sensitivity of Ag-metalized SPR sensor could reach 1167 nm/RIU and corresponding resolution is 8.57×10⁻⁵ RIU. Compared to conventional Au-metalized SPR sensors the performance of our device is obviously better.     

表面等离子共振效应中传统近似理论与薄膜光学理论

指出Kretschmann模型的传统表面等离子共振公式在求解金属薄膜的参量时存在近似性,采用更为严密的薄膜光学理论,通过薄膜膜系的特征矩阵,得出表面等离子体共振衰减曲线.结果表明,表面等离子体共振近似理论与薄膜光学理论得到的共振角及反射率幅度存在差别;采用等高线图,给出了共振角差随着金属介电常量的变化规律.进一步的实验表明,薄膜光学理论所得模拟结果较表面等离子体共振近似理论与实验值吻合地更好,证明薄膜光学理论应用在表面等离子体共振效应要优于常用的近似理论.最后,采用两种理论对表面等离子体共振传感器进行优化设计,结果表明,两种理论所获得的高灵敏度分布区域差异较大,必须采用薄膜光学理论提供更精确的薄膜参量,来优化设计高灵敏度表面等离子体共振传感器.     

Characteristics of light emission from surface plasmons based on rectangular silver gratings

We investigated the characteristics of transmitted light from propagating surface plasmons based on rectangular silver gratings. The results calculated by rigorous coupled-wave analysis presented that silver diffraction gratings can produce significant transmittance and conversion efficiency, comparable to the case of dielectric gratings. Especially, silver gratings optimized at a wide range of grating thickness and period may lead to an improved diffraction efficiency larger than 64%. Moreover, the effect of silver oxide layer on the transmittance was examined and a bimetallic structure with a thin gold coating was introduced to prevent an oxidation of silver substrates. As a practical sensor application, silver grating-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) configuration showed an enhanced sensitivity associated with an increase of surface reaction area and strong excitations of local plasmon fields, outperforming a conventional thin-film-based SPR structure.     

Surface plasmon optical sensor with enhanced sensitivity using top ZnO thin film

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is one of the most sensitive label-free detection methods and has been used in a wide range of chemical and biochemical sensing. Upon using a 200 nm top layer of dielectric film with a high value of the real part ε′ of the dielectric function, on top of an SPR sensor in the Kretschmann configuration, the sensitivity is improved. The refractive index effect of dielectric film on sensitivity is usually ignored. Dielectric films with different refractive indices were prepared by radio frequency magnetron (RF) sputtering and measured with spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The imaginary part ε′′ of the top nanolayer permittivity needs to be small enough in order to reduce the losses and get sharper dips. The stability of the sensor is also improved because the nanolayer is protecting the Ag film from interacting with the environment. The response curves of the Ag/ZnO chips were obtained by using SPR sensor. Theoretical analysis of the sensitivity of the SPR sensors with different ZnO film refractive indices is presented and studied. Both experimental and simulation results show that the Ag/ZnO films exhibit an enhanced SPR over the pure Ag film with a narrower full width at half maximum (FWHM). It shows that the top ZnO layer is effective in enhancing the surface plasmon resonance and thus its sensitivity.     

Performances of different metals in optical fibre-based surface plasmon resonance sensor

The capability of various metals used in optical fibre-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing is studied theoretically. Four metals, gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu) and aluminium (Al) are considered for the present study. The performance of the optical fibre-based SPR sensor with four different metals is obtained numerically and compared in detail. The performance of optical fibre-based SPR sensor has been analysed in terms of sensitivity, signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio and quality parameter. It is found that the performance of optical fibre-based SPR sensor with Au metal is better than that of the other three metals. The sensitivity of the optical fibre-based SPR sensor with 50 nm thick and 10 mm long Au metal film of exposed sensing region is 2.373 μm/RIU with good linearity, SNR is 0.724 and quality parameter is 48.281 RIU^− 1. The thickness of the metal film and the length of the exposed sensing region of the optical fibre-based SPR sensor for each metal are also optimized.     

Surface Plasmon Sensor Based on a Dual Dielectric–Silver Photonic Crystal

We present a new type of biosensor. The principle of operation of the device is similar to conventional surface plasmon sensors, except that the ordinary metallic film in surface plasmon sensors is replaced by a one-dimensional photonic bandgap array. The advantages of using a photonic bandgap structure, instead of a metallic film, include enhanced sensitivity, physical and chemical robustness, and the ability to engineer the optical response of the device. We propose and elaborate a biosensor based on a onedimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PC) with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In comparison with standard SPR sensors that use silver (Ag ) or gold (Au) films, PC–Ag–PC–Au structures have narrower resonance widths, lower minimum reflectance, and higher sensitivity, making them a much better choice for biosensing applications. Moreover, the structure is compact (H = 1.139 μm), providing a better option in biosensing in comparison with other PC-SPR and conventional SPR sensors.     

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.