Abstract
An extensive research has been carried out in synthesizing and characterizing single and double layer metal thin films of different thicknesses including ultrathin films. We discuss the experimental data of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) occurring at the interface between air, single and bimetallic thin layers of gold (Au) and silver (Ag) prepared on glass substrates. The bilayer configuration allowed for the measurements of the optical constants of metallic films that are ultra thin; e.g., below 10 nm of thickness since SPR modes on such thin films in a single layer configuration are shallow. In addition, using SPR technique, the optical constants of a natural biological thin layer (Allium cepa) is also estimated. Thickness and refractive index of metallic films were determined by matching experimental SPR curves to the theoretical ones. Thickness and roughness of the films were also measured by atomic force microscopy. The results obtained by experimental measurements are in good agreement with AFM analysis. It is estimated that the value of the real part of the dielectric constant of an onion epidermis is existing between the dielectric constants of water and air.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Goyer C, Labbe P (2011) Analytical tools for protein-carbohydrate interaction studies. In: Spinelli N, Renaudet O (eds) Synthesis and biological applications of glycoconjugates. Bentham Science University of Grenoble, France, pp 255–266
Kooyman RPH (2008) Physics of surface plasmon resonance. In: Tudos AJ, Schasfoort RBM (eds) Handbook of surface plasmon resonance. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, pp 15–34
Kretschmann E (1971) Determination of optical constants of metals through the stimulation of surface plasma oscillations. Z Phys 241:313–324
Raether H (1988) Surface plasmons on smooth and rough surfaces and on gratings. Springer, Berlin
Ou S, Kwok K-C (2004) Ferulic acid: pharmaceutical functions, preparation and application in foods. J Sci Food Agric 84:1261–1269
Zhai PM, Guo J, Xiang J, Zhou FM (2007) Electrochemical surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy at bilayered silver/gold films. J Phys Chem C 111:981–986
Shan XN, Foley KJ, Zhang PM (2010) Measuring surface charge density and particle height using surface plasmon resonance technique. J Anal Chem 82:234–240
Yao M, Tan OK, Tjin SC, Wolfe JC (2008) Effects of intermediate dielectric films on multilayer surface plasmon resonance behavior. Acta Biomater 4:2016–2027
Sarid D (1981) Long-range surface plasma waves on very thin metal films. Phys Rev Lett 47:1927
Balci S, Kocabas C, Ates S, Karademir E, Salihoglu O, Aydinli A (2012) Tuning surface plasmon-exciton coupling via thickness dependent plasmon damping. Phys Rev B 86:235402
Balci S, Kocabas C, Aydinli A (2011) Critical coupling in plasmonic resonator arrays. Opt Lett 36:2770–2772
Luby-Phelps K (2000) Cytoarchitecture and physical properties of cytoplasm: volume, viscosity, diffusion intracellular surface area. Int Rev Cytol 192:10–11
Kumar J, D’Souza SF (2011) Immobilization of microbial cells on inner epidermis of onion bulb scale for biosensor application. Biosens Bioelectron 26:4399–4404
Vanstreels E, Alamara MC, Verlindena BE (2005) Micromechanical behaviour of onion epidermal tissue. Postharvest Biol Technol 37:163–173
Groff JR (2012) Estimating the size of onion epidermal cells from diffraction patterns. Phys Teach 50:420
Plant Anatomy at the University of Hamburg (2014) Biologie.uni-hamburg.de. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_epidermal_cell. Accessed 17 June 2014
Smith M (2014) Plasmolysis. Microscopy-uk.org.uk. Accessed 10 July 2014
Lee W-J, Kim J-E, Park HY, Park S, Kim M-s, Kim JT, Ju JJ (2008) Optical constants of evaporated gold films measured by surface plasmon resonance at telecommunication wavelengths. J Appl Phys 103:0737131–0737135
Innes RA, Sambles JR (1987) Optical characterization of gold using surface plasmon-polaritons. J Phys F 17:277
Heavens OS (1960) Optical properties of thin films. Rep Prog Phys 23:1–65
Gent J-v, Lambeck PV, Kreuwel HJM, Gerritsma GJ, Ernst JR et al (1990) Optimization of a chemo-optical surface plasmon resonance based sensor. Appl Opt 29:2843–2849
Brink G, Sigl H, Sackmann E (1995) Near-infrared surface plasmon resonance in silicon-based sensor: new opportunities in sensitive detection of biomolecules from aqueous solutions by applying microstep for discriminating specific and non-specific binding. Sens Actuators B Chem 25:756–761
Yan H, Hong-An Y, Song-Quan L, Yen-Fing D (2013) The determination of the thickness and the optical dispersion property of gold film using spectroscopy of a surface plasmon in the frequency domain. Chin Phys B 22:027301
Yano M, Fukui M, Haragichi M, Shintani Y (1990) In situ and real-time observation of optical constants of metal films during growth. Surf Sci 227:129–137
Gadenne P, Vuye G (1977) In situ determination of the optical and electrical properties of thin films during their deposition. J Phys E 10:733–736
Reale C (1970) Optical constants of vacuum deposited thin metal films in the near infrared. Infrared Phys 10:173–181
Nesterenko DV, Rehman SU, Sekkat Z (2012) Surface plasmon sensing with different metals in single and double layer configurations. Appl Opt 51:6673–6682
Nesterenko DV, Sekkat Z (2013) Resolution estimation of the Au, Ag, Cu, and Al single- and double-layer surface plasmon sensors in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions. Plasmonics 8:1585–1595
Rehman SU, Rahmouni A, Mahfoud T, Nesterenko DV, Sekkat Z (2014) Determination of the optical thickness of sub 10-nm thin metal films by SPR experiments. Plasmonics 9:381–387
Rehman SU, Mumtaz H, Hayashi S, Shaukat SF, Sekkat Z (2014) Estimation of optical constants of a bio-thin layer (onion epidermis), using SPR spectroscopy. J Opt 16:125014
Worm J (2009) WINSPALL, version 3.02. Available http://archive.is/6yLw9. Accessed 15 July 2013
Cardona M (1971) Fresnel reflection and surface plasmon. Am J Phys 39:1277
Pan M (2009) Using multiple layers and surface roughness control for improving the sensitivity of SPR sensors. M.Phil dissertation, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Palik ED (1985) Handbook of optical constants of solids. Academic, Orlando
Ekgasit S, Yu F, Knoll W (2005) Fluorescence intensity in surface plasmon field-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy. Sens Actuators B Chem 104:294–301
Palik ED (1998) Handbook of optical constants of solids. Academic, New York, p 999
Hale GM, Querry MR (1973) Optical constants of water in the 200-nm to 200-μm wavelength region. Appl Opt 12:555–563
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge Prof. Shinji Hayashi for his fruitful guidelines and scientific input to improve the quality of the manuscript. I also acknowledge Dr. Dmitry Nesterenko and Dr. Anouar Rahmouni for their help during the experimental design and data analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rehman, S.U., Saleem, M., Raza, R., Shuaib, A., SEKKAT, Z. (2016). Lasers and Plasmonics: SPR Measurements of Metal Thin Films, Clusters and Bio-Layers. In: Geddes, C. (eds) Reviews in Plasmonics 2015. Reviews in Plasmonics, vol 2015. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24606-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24606-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24604-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24606-2
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)