A quasi-3D Fano resonance cavity on optical fiber end-facet for high signal-to-noise ratio dip-and-read surface plasmon sensing

Abstract

Surface plasmon devices mounted at the end-facets of optical fibers are appealing candidates for rapid and point-of-care sensing applications, by offering a special dip-and-read operation mode. At present, these devices’ noise-equivalent limits-of-detection lag far behind the free-space counterparts, leaving them incapable of most biosensing applications. Here we report a quasi-3D Fano resonance cavity and its fabrication method to fundamentally improve the quality factor and coupling efficiency for fiber-coupled surface plasmon resonance. In this device, the Fano resonance combines the high coupling efficiency of a Fabry-Pérot etalon and the high quality factor resonance of a plasmonic crystal cavity. The quasi-3D device was fabricated on a planar substrate and transferred to a single-mode fiber end-facet, which requires a low-adhesion yet surface-plasmon-tunneling interface between the device and the planar substrate. Such an interface was realized with a nanocap-slit unit structure, of which the plasmonic crystal was consisted. A noise-equivalent limit of detection of ~ 10-7 RIU was experimentally obtained, allowing bovine serum albumin physical adsorption to be distinguished at ng mL-1 level concentrations. Therefore, breaking through the long-standing signal-to-noise ratio bottleneck, this work makes fiber end-facet surface plasmon devices into one of high sensitivity label-free sensing technologies. At the same time, it provides an enabling top-down fabrication technology for making 3D plasmonic structures on fiber end-facets at the nanometer scale.