Hybrid Tamm-surface plasmon polariton mode for highly sensitive detection of protein interactions

The total internal reflection ellipsometry (TIRE) method was used for the excitation and study of the sensitivity properties of the hybrid Tamm plasmon polariton - surface plasmon polariton (TPP-SPP) and single surface plasmon resonance (SPR) modes of the GCSF receptor immobilization. Additionally, the optimized sensitivity of the hybrid TPP-SPP mode was investigated and compared with the single SPR mode when the BSA proteins formed a layer on the gold surface. The dispersion relations for the hybrid TPP-SPP and single SPR modes were used to explain the enhanced sensitivity of the ellipsometric parameters for the hybrid TPP-SPP mode over the conventional SPR. The SPP component (δΔ_h-SPP/δλ=53.9°/nm) of the hybrid TPP-SPP mode was about 6.4 times more sensitive than single SPR (δΔ_SPR/δλ=8.4°/nm) for the BSA protein layer on the gold film. It was found that the sensitivity of the hybrid plasmonic mode can be made controllable by using the strong coupling effect between the TPP and SPP components. The strong coupling regime reduces absorption and scattering losses of the metal for the SPP component in the hybrid TPP-SPP mode and, as a result, narrows the plasmonic resonance.