Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensors:

A Brief Review of Relevant Physics and Engineering

DR. SURESH SHARMA

Professor of Physics

University of Texas at Arlington

Abstract:

Since their realization in the 1950s, the surface plasmon excitations (SPEs) have led to an amazingly interesting physical phenomenon that is the basis for the development of numerous sensors with applications in biotechnology, chemistry, materials science, and physics. A special case of these SPEs is the so-called surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), which are related to surface charge density oscillations and represent electromagnetic waves propagating along a metal/dielectric interface. Additionally, the SPPs give rise to evanescent electromagnetic fields decaying exponentially with distance away from and normal to the interface. Towards the development of high-performance sensors, numerous materials and structures have been proposed and utilized. Of particular importance among these are the single metal, bi-metal, and multilayer structures. Whereas the single metal SPR sensors are relatively inexpensive and easy to fabricate, they do not compete favorably against sensors using slightly more complex waveguide-coupled multilayer structures, especially for applications in which the evanescent fields are of particular interest. In this presentation, I will highlight a simplistic-view of the basic physics of the SPR phenomenon, describe some of the experimental techniques, and discuss selected examples from our recent work.

Host: Dr. Chris Littler

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

3:30 P.M.

Room 104, Physics Building

Refreshments at 3:15 P.M.