Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Based on Ethylene Tetra-Fluoro-Ethylene Hollow Fiber

A new kind of hollow fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor (HF-SPRS) based on the silver-coated ethylene tetra-fluoro-ethylene (ETFE) hollow fiber (HF) is presented. The ETFE HF-SPRS is fabricated, and its performance is investigated experimentally by measuring the transmission spectra of the sensor when filled by liquid sensed media with different refractive indices (RIs). Theoretical analysis based on the ray transmission model is also taken to evaluate the sensor. Because the RI of ETFE is much lower than that of fused silica (FSG), the ETFE HF-SPRS can extend the lower limit of the detection range of the early reported FSG HF-SPRS from 1.5 to 1.42 approximately. This could greatly enhance the application potential of HF-SPRS. Moreover, the joint use of both ETFE and FSG HF-SPRSs can cover a wide detection range from 1.42 to 1.69 approximately with high sensitivities larger than 1000 nm/RIU.