Collection mode surface plasmon fibre sensors: a new biosensing platform

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Biosensing
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a label-free optical biosensing technology.
• Current SPR sensors infer plasmon existence indirectly through absorption.
• Surface roughness can induce radiative SPR, emitting light.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel SPR transducing mechanism using light emission.
• To explore advantages over traditional reflectance-based SPR measurements.
• To enable multiplexed detection and combined sensing modalities.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing silver-coated optical fibers for SPR.
• Investigating light emission from surface roughness-induced plasmons.
• Developing complex sensor architectures for multiplexing and self-referencing.
• Integrating SPR with fluorescence sensing.

Main Results:

• The novel SPR emission mechanism shows lower dependency on metallic thickness.
• Higher signal-to-noise ratio compared to traditional reflectance methods.
• Demonstrated multiplexed detection and dynamic self-referencing.
• Successfully combined SPR and fluorescence sensing in a single device.
• Preliminary detection of seasonal influenza A virus achieved.

Conclusions:

• Radiative SPR from rough silver surfaces offers significant advantages for biosensing.
• The developed fiber-optic platform enables advanced multiplexed and hybrid sensing.
• This approach holds promise for sensitive and versatile pathogen detection, including influenza A.