Engineering Plasmonic Hybridization toward Advanced Optical Sensors

Abstract

The requirements for an optical sensor are high: the sensor should be reliable, quick, and simple, and all these features must be provided at ultralow fabrication costs. The requirements go even further, as the sensor may operate without an energy source, and nowadays, the sensor components should be recyclable. Today existing plasmonic concepts and advances in nanofabrication can meet these requirements. This review article describes the available nanoscale components and discusses their reasonable layout to obtain the sensing requirements. It is shown that combining photonic and plasmonic properties helps to get high sensitivity at low losses, where these hybrid modes with simple optical concepts are introduced. The current state of the art in developing lithographic nanostructuring and directed self-assembly to pave the way for future refractive index sensors is also used. By providing a guideline for advanced sensors, how the individual optical components can be used to create hybrid properties that can be realized cost-effectively are shown. The review article ends with a discussion on the perspectivs for plasmonic hybridization sensors.