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Highly Sensitive Refractive Index Sensing with Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides

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Abstract

Two prototypical transducer structures are proposed, including a single-waveguide (SW) and Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI), implemented with surface plasmon polariton waveguides. Formulas of the output power with structural parameters are deduced respectively. The sensitivities are found to be proportional to S 1 for SW and S 2 for MZI, which are dependent on waveguide parameters. Maximizing S 1 or S 2 maximizes the corresponding sensitivity, leading to optimized waveguide designs and preferred operating wavelengths. Sensitivity parameters S 1 and S 2 are calculated for fundamental modes of V grooves, triangular wedges, and dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguides (DLSPPWs), as a function of measured material refractive index n c (n c  = 1.3∼1.6, representative refractive index of biochemical matter), at wavelength λ = 1.55 μm. Finally, the sensitivity S 2 is analyzed as a function of work wavelength for DLSPPWs with different ridge thickness and specific fluidic SPP waveguide for biochemical sensing is presented. The results offer foundations for application of surface plasmon polariton waveguides in biochemical sensing.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 61210010), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (no. lzujbky-2013-42), and China Scholarship Council.

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  1. School of Information Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Yuee Li, Aning Ma, Lili Yang & Xiaoping Zhang

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  1. Yuee Li
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  2. Aning Ma
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  3. Lili Yang
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  4. Xiaoping Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuee Li.

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Li, Y., Ma, A., Yang, L. et al. Highly Sensitive Refractive Index Sensing with Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides. Plasmonics 9, 71–78 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-013-9599-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-013-9599-6

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