Ultra-sensitive fluid fill height sensing based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

Abstract

We analyzed fluid fill height sensing supported by terahertz spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). The existence of spoof SPPs was proved experimentally and was discussed from perspective of dispersion and field distribution. For the application, we designed a fluid fill height sensor based on spoof SPPs, which is much more sensitive than previous work based on parallel plate waveguide (PPWG). For example, resonant shift of spoof SPPs is almost four times larger than the shift of PPWG at the height of 250 μm. This fluid fill height sensor calibrated the fluid volume in grooves, which contributes to improving the accuracy of high refractive index sensing. The experiment is in good agreement with simulation. Such proposed fluid height sensor has another advantage of being suitable for the fluid with refractive index higher than prism, which further benefits spoof SPPs refractive index sensing, such as blood detection in future.