Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 18, 2026
10:54
Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Characterization of Plasmonic Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters
Published on: July 8, 2013
15.4K
Generating Localized Plasmonic Fields on an Integrated Photonic Platform using Tapered Couplers for Biosensing
Gurpreet Singh1, Renzhe Bi1, U S Dinish1
1Laboratory of Bio-optical Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore.
Scientific Reports
|November 16, 2017
Summary
This study presents a novel silicon nitride tapered-coupler for enhanced biosensing. The design enables highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) applications.
Area of Science:
- Photonics and Plasmonics
- Integrated Optics
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Hybrid photonic-plasmonic structures enable novel light-matter interactions.
- Tapered couplers are crucial for efficient energy transfer in integrated devices.
- Existing biosensing techniques face limitations in sensitivity and integration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To theoretically design and analyze a tapered-coupler for integrated photonic-plasmonic applications.
- To explore the potential of this structure for highly sensitive biosensing.
- To investigate electromagnetic enhancement factors for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).
Main Methods:
- Theoretical design and electromagnetic analysis of a silicon nitride tapered-coupler.
- Modeling of hybrid symmetric and asymmetric modes along the taper.
- Calculation of electromagnetic enhancement factors for SERS.
Main Results:
- The tapered-coupler supports hybrid modes, with one approaching a short-range surface plasmon mode.
- A theoretical electromagnetic enhancement factor as high as 1.23 × 10^6 for SERS was deduced.
- The structure achieved this enhancement with taper tip widths as small as 20 nm.
Conclusions:
- The proposed tapered-coupler is a promising hybrid photonic-plasmonic structure.
- It offers potential for highly sensitive biosensing using SERS and metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF).
- This design paves the way for all-integrated on-chip SERS and MEF biosensor platforms.
