SURFACE PLASMON COUPLED SENSOR AND NANOLENS

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two topics. One is a "Multi-pass Fiber Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor (SPR)" and the other is a "Nano-metallic Surface Plasmon Lens." Since both topics involved surface plasmon, the title of this dissertation is named "Surface plasmon coupled sensor and nanolens." For a multi-pass fiber optic SPR sensor, a fiber optic 4-pass SPR sensor coupled with a field-assist capability for detecting an extremely low concentration of charged particles is first demonstrated. The multipass feature increases the sensitivity by a factor equal to the number of passes. The field-assist feature forces charged particles/molecules to the SPR surface, increasing the sensitivity by an additional factor of about 100. Overall, the sensitivity exceeds the one-pass SPR device by a factor of about 400. A 10 pM concentration of 47 nm diameter polystyrene (PS) latex beads and 1 ?M concentration of salt dissolved in DI water were detected within a few seconds by the combined system. The equivalent index resolution for atomic size corresponding to ionized chlorine in salt is 10-8. This technique offers the potential for sensitive and fast detection of biomolecules in a solution. Secondly, a 44-pass fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor coupled with a field-assist capability for measurement of refractive index change due to positive and negative ions is shown. The field-assist feature forces ions to the SPR surface, causing the SPR signal response to change which reflects a decrease or increase in refractive index depending on whether positive or negative ions are being attracted to the surface. This technique offers the potential for the sensitive detection of cations and anions in a solution. For a nano-metallic surface plasmon lens, we analyze the transmission of a normally incident plane wave through an Ag/dielectric layered concentric ring structure using finite difference time domain (FDTD) analysis. The dependency of the transmission efficiency on the refractive index in slit is studied. The numerical analysis indicates that the focusing beyond diffraction limit is found even at the extended focal length comparable to the distance of 7" from the exit plane using a circularly polarized coherent plane wave, ?=405 nm. Especially, compared to an Ag-only structure, the Ag/ LiNbO3 structure amplifies the transmission power by a factor of 6. Therefore, this Ag/dielectric layered lens has the potential for significantly higher resolution imaging and optical data storage.