Integrated multichannel Young's interferometer sensor based on long-range surface plasmon waveguides.

Two integrated Young's interferometer (YI) sensors based on long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) waveguides are presented. The first sensor is single-channel and based on a Y-junction splitter, and the other is multi-channel and based on a corporate feed structure. The multichannel YI enables simultaneous and independent phase-based monitoring of refractive index changes in multiple channels. The diverging output beams from the waveguides are overlapped in the far field to form interference patterns which are then post-processed using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm to extract phase values. The sensing capability of these YIs was demonstrated through sequential injection of solutions with increasing refractive index into the sensing channels. A detection limit of ∼ 1 × 10-6 RIU was obtained for both LRSPP based YIs, a significant improvement over measurements from similar structures using attenuation-based sensing.

Design and fabrication of copper-filled photonic crystal fiber based polarization filters.

This work demonstrates a broadband polarization filter based on copper-filled photonic crystal fiber (CFPCF). The proposed fiber is fabricated using the conventional stack-and-draw method. The polarization filter properties of the proposed CFPCF are investigated numerically by considering the cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy image of the fabricated CFPCF. It is observed that the magnitude of cross talk reached up to -206 dB over 0.8 mm length with a broad bandwidth of 282 nm at a central wavelength of 1790 nm. In addition, the polarization characteristics of the CFPCF including cross talk, central wavelength, and bandwidth can be adjusted by varying the diameter of the copper wire. It is shown that the resonance wavelength of the proposed filter can be tuned over the wide range of wavelengths from 1390 to 1890 nm. We have shown that by adjusting the copper wire diameter to 0.32Λ and 0.48Λ µm (Λ is pitch size), the proposed filter can operate at communication bands of 1310 and 1550 nm, respectively. The results suggest high-potential of the proposed fiber for polarization filtering and other sensing applications.

Diamond ring fiber for evanescent field exposure.

Diamond Ring Fiber (DRF) is proposed to allow a high percentage of evanescent field exposure while maintaining low confinement loss. It provides a long and protected medium for light-matter interaction and large cavities to ease the infiltration of sensing elements. DRFs with different waveguide parameters have been analyzed theoretically and fabricated using a stack-and-draw fiber drawing technique. Mode analysis has been performed experimentally on the fabricated fibers, while the confinement loss and the percentage of evanescent field exposure are examined by simulation. DRF allows evanescent field exposure as high as 39.56% with negligible confinement loss at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

Detection of dengue NS1 antigen using long-range surface plasmon waveguides.

The non-structural 1 (NS1) protein of the dengue virus circulates in infected patients' blood samples and can be used for early diagnosis of dengue infection. In this paper, we present the detection of naturally-occurring dengue NS1 antigen in infected patient blood plasma using straight long-range surface plasmon waveguides. Three commercially-available anti-NS1 monoclonal antibodies were used for recognition and their performance was compared and discussed. A similar figure of merit to the one used in conventional dengue NS1 capture using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to our results. In general, the positive patient samples can be clearly differentiated from the negative ones and the results agree with those obtained using ELISA. The largest signal-to-noise ratio observed during the experiments was 356 and the best detection limit observed is estimated as 5.73 pg/mm(2).

Long-range surface plasmon Y-junctions for referenced biosensing.

Long-range surface plasmon Y-junctions are demonstrated as sensors for the detection of bulk refractive index changes in solution and for protein binding. Using a fully-cladded Au stripe waveguide as a reference channel, common drift and noise in the system can be eliminated, relaxing the need for precise optical alignments. The performance of the structure is discussed theoretically, then bulk sensing is carried out experimentally with five solutions of different refractive indices, and protein sensing is demonstrated through physisorption of bovine serum albumin on a carboxyl-terminated Au stripe. The Y-junction biosensor demonstrated a very good ability to perform drift and noise suppression for fast and accurate biosensing.

Serological diagnosis of dengue infection in blood plasma using long-range surface plasmon waveguides.

We present a compact, cost-effective, label-free, real-time biosensor based on long-range surface plasmon polariton (LRSPP) gold (Au) waveguides for the detection of dengue-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody, and we demonstrate detection in actual patient blood plasma samples. Two surface functionalization approaches are proposed and demonstrated: a dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2) functionalized surface to capture dengue-specific IgM antibody in blood plasma and the reverse, a blood plasma functionalized surface to capture DENV-2. The results obtained via these two surface functionalization approaches are comparable to, or of greater quality, than those collected by conventional IgM antibody capture enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (MAC-ELISA). Our second functionalization approach was found to minimize nonspecific binding, thus improving the sensitivity and accuracy of the test. We also demonstrate reuse of the biosensors by regenerating the sensing surface down to the virus (or antibody) level or down to the bare Au.