Experimental study on ultra-high sensitivity gold-based SPR sensor for refractive index and temperature measurement.

We have experimentally demonstrated an ultra-high sensitivity gold-based fiber refractive index (RI) sensor whose main structure is composed of multimode fiber (MMF) and photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The gold film is deposited on V-shaped PCF by magnetron sputtering, and sensing experiments are performed based on the principle of surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Numerical simulation results indicate that the cladding mode of the V-shaped PCF is more capable of stimulating the SPR effect than the core mode. The experimental results show that the RI measurement range of the sensor is 1.333–1.421, with a maximum sensitivity of 10015 nm/RIU. In addition to RI sensing, sensing probes can be coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on a gold film for temperature sensing. For temperature detection, the range is from 10 to 100 °C and the maximum sensitivity is 3.5 nm/℃. Besides high sensitivity in RI measurement, the proposed sensor also has good sensing performance in temperature sensing. With the advantages of high sensitivity, good stability, and easy preparation, this sensor has become an important reference in the field of high-performance sensing. • This work proposes a refractive index sensor with ultra-high sensitivity, with a maximum sensitivity of 10015 nm/RIU. • The sensor uses PCF with a large cladding area as the substrate and is easy to prepare. • The sensor selects a stable gold film, which is not easily oxidized, as the plasma material. • The maximum sensitivity of this sensor used in the field of temperature sensing is 3.5 nm/°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]