Numerical Modeling of 3D Chiral Metasurfaces for Sensing Applications

Abstract

Sensitivity and specificity in biosensing platforms remain key aspects to enable an effective technological transfer. Considerable efforts have been made to design sensing platforms capable of controlling light–matter interaction at the nanoscale. Here, we numerically investigated how a 3D out-of-plane chiral plasmonic metasurface can be used as a key element in a sensing platform, by exploiting the variation in the plasmonic and lattice modes as a function of the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The results indicate that chiral metasurfaces can be used to perform sensing, by detecting the refractive index change with a maximum sensitivity of 761 nm/RIU. The metasurface properties can be suitably designed to maximize the optical response in terms of the shift, modulated by the refractive index of the analyte molecules. Such studies can pave the way for engineering and fabricating highly selective and specific chiral metasurface-based refractive index sensing platforms.