Enhanced sensitivity of a surface plasmon resonance biosensor using hyperbolic metamaterial and monolayer graphene

Abstract

The presence of hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) enables the coupling of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and thus enhances the sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. Biosensors based on the combination of HMM and two-dimensional materials possess the ability to further promote the detection sensitivity. In this paper, a monolayer graphene/HMM/D-shaped plastic optic fiber (G/HMM/D-POF) SPR sensor is proposed in the combination of the virtues of monolayer graphene, HMM, and D-POF. The sensing performance of the sensor has been proved by the numerical simulation and the experimental results. The optimal sensor structure is G/3*(Au/Al 2 O 3 )/D-POF, with a high sensitivity of 5166.7 nm/RIU for the detection of aqueous ethanol. Besides, glucose monitoring is essential for the detection and treatment of diabetes. Therefore, the G/3*(Au/Al 2 O 3 )/D-POF sensor is also used to detect aqueous glucose and achieve the sensitivity of 2767.3 nm/RIU. It is believed that the G/HMM/D-POF SPR sensor has the potential to provide a new detection path for biomolecule detection.