Theoretical and experimental researches on a PCF-based SPR sensor

Abstract:

A photonic crystal fiber based surface plasmon resonance (PCF-SPR) sensor is simulated by finite element method and experimentally realized. The calculations show that there is an obvious loss peak in the vicinity of 1.2 m while the PCF of LMA-8 is used as a sensor. The suspension of silver nanoparticle mixed with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) is inhaled into the PCF to form a metal film which can be stimulated to generate plasmon in the experiment. A spectrometer is utilized to detect the continuous broadband transmission spectrum from the PCF. The experimental results verify the loss peak. Compared with the theoretical calculations, the offset of loss peak about 40 nm can be acceptable, because the uniformity of the metal coating is difficult to guarantee and the film thickness is difficult to control.