Surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic sensor for the IR region using a conducting metal oxide film

摘要

Theoretical modeling of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based fiber optic sensor with a conducting metalnoxide [indium tin oxide (ITO)] as the SPR active material is proposed. The theoretical analysis reveals that thenproposed sensing probe can be utilized for sensing in the IR region, where most of the gases show their absorptionnregime. Comparison of sensitivity predicts that an ITO-layer-coated SPR-based fiber optic sensor isnabout 60% more sensitive than a gold-coated fiber optic sensor. The physical reasons behind sensitivity enhancementnare provided. Apart from this, various advantageous features of the ITO over the noble metals,nsilver and gold, are addressed. © 2010 Optical Society of America