Significantly enhanced sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance sensor with self-assembled metallic nanoparticles

Abstract

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor hybridized with self-assembled metallic nanoparticles is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The measured sensitivity of the proposed SPR sensor is 110.77 deg /RIU, while that of a conventional SPR sensor is 84.75 deg /RIU. The enhanced sensitivity is attributed to the strong localized surface plasmons and the increased surface interaction area by the nanoparticles. Angle variation measurement, which is an easy detection method using bulk optics, is possible with this structure because a supplementary metallic thin film layer on the nanoparticles leads to utilization of the sensitive variation of the strong localized field by the change of the refractive index. Furthermore, the proposed structure can be fabricated with a very simple three-step nonlithographic process.