Sensitivity of tapered optical fiber surface plasmon resonance sensors

The sensitivity of surface plasmon resonance based tapered optical waveguide sensors having various profile is analyzed and compared. Using ray approach the change of resonance wavelength with taper ratio is obtained and hence the variations of sensitivity with taper ratio for each considered tapered profile are presented. It is observed that as the taper ratio decreases the sensitivity of proposed sensor for each profile increases up to certain taper ratio where the plasmonic condition is satisfied. Also, the effect of profiles on the sensitivity is significant for lower taper ratio. In all considered cases the maximum sensitivity is obtained for sinusoidal tapered profile. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.