Mid-infrared chalcogenide slot waveguide plasmonic resonator sensor embedded with Au nanorods for surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

The problem of a traditional waveguide plasmonic resonator sensor is that part of the near-field intensity enhanced area is confined in the waveguide dielectric layer, which decreases the interaction effect between light and analyte. In order to solve this problem, a novel mid-infrared (MIR) chalcogenide (ChG) slot waveguide plasmonic resonator (SWGPR) sensor embedded with Au nanorods was proposed, where Au nanorods were used as antenna for enhancing mode coupling with the waveguide through resonance at the absorption wavelength of the analyte. The antenna parameters were optimized to make the resonance wavelength align with the absorption wavelength of the analyte. The proposed waveguide structure provides a sufficient sensing area and increases the electric field enhancement factor to > 6400. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and styrene were adopted as the analyte for sensing performance evaluation. The normalized absorption reaches 23.31 when the maximum extinction coefficient of PMMA is 0.08, which is at least 7 times higher than other silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide plasmonic resonator sensors. The proposed waveguide structure provides a new idea for the design of other waveguide plasmonic resonator sensors with high sensing performance and has the potential for biochemical sensing.