Nguyen, Huy Huynh (2012) Optical fibre surface plasmon resonance sensors based on a metallic array of sub-wavelength apertures. PhD thesis, Victoria University.

Abstract

In this dissertation, optical fibre surface plasmon resonance sensors based on a metallic array of sub-wavelength apertures are investigated. Metallic sub-wavelength apertures may be designed to support surface plasmon resonances that are sensitive to the surrounding environment when embedded at the end-face of an optical fibre. Factors contributing to the liquid refractive index sensitivity are explored systematically through simulation, theory, and experiment. The optical fibre sensor (OFS) is a novel sensing device based on surface plasmon resonance technology and metallic nanostructure materials. The sensitivity of the sensor can be tailored by designing a suitable periodic array of sub-wavelength apertures. In the sensing mechanism, liquids such as water, acetone and iso-propyl alcohol were used to test the sensing surface of the optical fibre end-face. The identification of different refractive indices can be achieved by measuring the wavelength difference variations of spectral features and the light intensity from the reflection spectra of the OFS. The proposed sensor is compact in size and suitable for remote sensing. The sensor needs only a small volume of the liquid being tested and it is easy to use. It is evident that experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical results. However, the result of this study determined that it is unlikely that an OFS based on a periodic metallic nanostructure at the fibre end-face will produce a sensor with superior sensitivity to variations in liquid refractive index (RI) as compared to cheaper existing technologies.

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