Theoretical analysis and optimization of sensing parameters of surface plasmon resonance sensor

The right combination of substrate and metallic layer is very important to optimize the sensing parameters of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. These parameters are sensitivity, full width half maxima (FWHM) and reflectance minimum (R-min) at resonance angle. It is shown in the present theoretical analysis that the right combination of substrate and metallic layer helps in reducing the number of layers in SPR multilayer structures without compromising the sensitivity of SPR sensors. The present study was performed on three layers and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) based four layer SPR structures. Gold (Au) and silver (Ag) were used as metallic layers and dense flint (SF11) glass and barium flint (BAF10) glass were used as substrate material. The best sensitivity value was achieved with the combination of Au and BAF10 in both three and four layer structure. The optimized values of FWHM and R-min were obtained using the combination of Ag and SF11 in both three and four layer structures.