title: Surface Plasmon Scattering in Exposed Core Optical Fiber for Enhanced Resolution Refractive Index Sensing.
abstract: Refractometric sensors based on optical excitation of surface plasmons on the side of an optical fiber is an established sensing architecture that has enabled laboratory demonstrations of cost effective portable devices for biological and chemical applications. Here we report a Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) configuration realized in an Exposed Core Microstructured Optical Fiber (ECF) capable of optimizing both sensitivity and resolution. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of fabrication of a rough metal coating suitable for spectral interrogation of scattered plasmonic wave using chemical electroless plating technique on a 10 μm diameter exposed core of the ECF. Performance of the sensor in terms of its refractive index sensitivity and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of SPR response is compared to that achieved with an unstructured bare core fiber with 140 μm core diameter. The experimental improvement in FWHM, and therefore the detection limit, is found to be a factor of two (75 nm for ECF in comparison to 150 nm for the large core fiber). Refractive index sensitivity of 1800 nm/RIU was achieved for both fibers in the sensing range of aqueous environment (1.33-1.37) suitable for biosensing applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005,Australia. elizaveta.klantsataya@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Elizaveta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Klantsataya
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005,Australia. alexandre.francois@adelaide.edu.au.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. alexandre.francois@adelaide.edu.au.|University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. alexandre.francois@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: François
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005,Australia. heike.ebendorff@adelaide.edu.au.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. heike.ebendorff@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebendorff-Heidepriem
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005,Australia. peter.hoffmann@adelaide.edu.au.|Adelaide Proteomics Centre, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. peter.hoffmann@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005,Australia. tanya.monro@adelaide.edu.au.|ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. tanya.monro@adelaide.edu.au.|University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. tanya.monro@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Tanya M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Monro
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D057230:Limit of Detection; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: biosensing; microstructured optical fiber; plasmonics; surface plasmon resonance; surface plasmon scattering