Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors

Abstract

This book addresses the important physical phenomenon of℗ℓSurface Plasmon Resonance or Surface Plasmon Polaritons in thin metal films, a phenomenon which is℗ℓexploited in the design of a large variety of physico-chemical optical sensors. In this treatment, crucial materials aspects for design and optimization of SPR sensors are investigated and outlined in detail. The text℗ℓcovers the selection of nanometer thin metal films, ranging from free-electron to the platinum type conductors, along with their combination with a large variety of dielectric substrate materials, and associated individual layer and opto-geometric arrangements. Furthermore, as-yet℗ℓhardly explored SPR features of selected metalℓ́ℓmetal and metalℓ́ℓdielectric super lattices are included in this report. An in-depth multilayer Fresnel evaluation℗ℓprovides the mathematical tool for this optical analysis, which otherwise relies℗ℓsolely on℗ℓexperimentally determined electro-optical materials parameters. Introduction and background information -- Physical features of the surface plasmon polariton -- Physical features of surface plasmon resonance sensors -- Design features of surface plasmon resonance sensors -- Data extraction algorithms -- SPF-sensor properties of metal films and particles: free electron type metals -- Classical noble metals -- Noble transition metals of the platinum group -- Common transition metals -- Other common metals -- SPR active metal-type compounds -- Artificial metal-insulator multi-layer structures -- Conclusions.