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Discussion on Surface Plasmon Resonance Technique in the Otto Configuration for Measurement of Lubricant Film Thickness

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Abstract

This study presents a novel method of in situ observation of lubricant films formed within contact interfaces, focusing on the use of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique in the Otto configuration, i.e., the SPR-Otto system. First, a numerical analysis based on the multiple-beam interference theory showed that the SPR-Otto method proposed in this study exhibits high sensitivity for the measurement of lubricant film thickness, comparable to that of a well-known optical interferometry method. Additionally, the advantages and disadvantages of the SPR-Otto method were considered on the basis of the numerical results. Subsequently, a model experiment was performed using an SPR-Otto optical microscope newly developed in this study to demonstrate the predictions obtained in the numerical analysis.

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Abbreviations

E in :

Amplitude of the incident light

E out :

Amplitude of the reflected light

N :

Complex refractive index

R :

Reflectance

R (700nm) :

Reflectance at the wavelength of 700 nm

ΔR :

Difference in reflectance

ΔR (700nm) :

Difference in reflectance at the wavelength of 700 nm

h :

Thickness of the layer

n :

Refractive index

t :

Time

t SPR :

Time at SPR measurement

t ij :

Fresnel transmission coefficient

r ij :

Fresnel reflection coefficient

k :

Extinction coefficient

β :

Phase change

θ :

Incident angle

λ :

Wavelength

λ SPR :

Resonance wavelength for SPR curve

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Author notes

  1. Satoru Maegawa

    Present address: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Tottori University, 4-101 Minami Koyama, Tottori, 680-8553, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Gokiso-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 466-8555, Japan

    Satoru Maegawa, Junya Yamaguchi, Fumihiro Itoigawa & Takashi Nakamura

Authors
  1. Satoru Maegawa
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  2. Junya Yamaguchi
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  3. Fumihiro Itoigawa
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  4. Takashi Nakamura
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Correspondence to Satoru Maegawa.

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Maegawa, S., Yamaguchi, J., Itoigawa, F. et al. Discussion on Surface Plasmon Resonance Technique in the Otto Configuration for Measurement of Lubricant Film Thickness. Tribol Lett 62, 14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-016-0659-x

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