Exciting Surface Plasmon Resonances on Gold Thin Film‐Coated Optical Fibers Through Nanoparticle Light Scattering
João P. Mendes, Paulo S. S. dos Santos, Bernardo Dias, Sara Núñez‐Sánchez, Isabel Pastoriza‐Santos, Jorge Pérez‐Juste, Carlos M. Pereira, P. A. S. Jorge, José M. M. M. de Almeida, L. Coelho
Abstract
Abstract Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) conventionally occurs at the interface of a thin metallic film and an external dielectric medium in fiber optics through core‐guided light. However, this work introduces theoretical and experimental evidence suggesting that the SPR in optical fibers can also be induced through light scattering from Au nanoparticles (NPs) on the thin metallic film, defined as nanoparticle‐induced SPR (NPI‐SPR). This method adheres to phase‐matching conditions between SPR dispersion curves and the wave vectors of scattered light from Au NPs. Experimentally, these conditions are met on an etched optical fiber, enabling direct interaction between light and immobilized Au NPs. Compared to SPR, NPI‐SPR exhibits stronger field intensity in the external region and wavelength tuning capabilities (750 to 1250 nm) by varying Au NP diameters (20 to 90 nm). NPI‐SPR demonstrates refractive index sensitivities of 4000 to 4416 nm per refractive index unit, nearly double those of typical SPR using the same optical fiber configuration sans Au NPs. Additionally, NPI‐SPR fiber configuration has demonstrated its applicability for developing biosensors, achieving a remarkable limit of detection of 0.004 n m for thrombin protein evaluation, a twenty‐fold enhancement compared to typical SPR. These findings underscore the intrinsic advantages of NPI‐SPR for sensing.