Fabrication and fundamental characteristics of fiber optic surface plasmon sensor

Abstract

A fiber optic SPR sensor that combines surface plasmon resonance sensor with optical fiber is presented. The probe in this sensing system consists of a mirror and a sensing area where the surface plasmon is excited. Basically, the measurement principle of this sensor is the same as that of the prism SPR sensor. However, the excitation of surface plasmon is observed as a spectrum of a light that travels back and forth through the sensing area. First, the fundamental and optimal conditions of this sensor is presented from fundamental experimental results. And then, it is also shown to be possible to detect samples of different refractive indices. The applicability of this sensor is also discussed.