Plasmonic gold mushroom arrays with refractive index sensing figures of merit approaching the theoretical limit

Yang Shen, Jianhua Zhou, Tianran Liu, Yuting Tao, Ruibin Jiang, Mingxuan Liu, Guohui Xiao, Jinhao Zhu, Zhang-Kai Zhou, Xuehua Wang, Chongjun Jin () and Jianfang Wang ()
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Yang Shen: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Jianhua Zhou: Key Laboratory of Sensing Technology and Biomedical Instruments of Guangdong Province, School of Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Tianran Liu: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Yuting Tao: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ruibin Jiang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Mingxuan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Guohui Xiao: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Jinhao Zhu: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Zhang-Kai Zhou: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Xuehua Wang: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Chongjun Jin: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University
Jianfang Wang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)-based sensing has found wide applications in medical diagnosis, food safety regulation and environmental monitoring. Compared with commercial propagating surface plasmon resonance (PSPR)-based sensors, LSPR ones are simple, cost-effective and suitable for measuring local refractive index changes. However, the figure of merit (FOM) values of LSPR sensors are generally 1–2 orders of magnitude smaller than those of PSPR ones, preventing the widespread use of LSPR sensors. Here we describe an array of submicrometer gold mushrooms with a FOM reaching ~108, which is comparable to the theoretically predicted upper limit for standard PSPR sensors. Such a high FOM arises from the interference between Wood’s anomaly and the LSPRs. We further demonstrate the array as a biosensor for detecting cytochrome c and alpha-fetoprotein, with their detection limits down to 200 pM and 15 ng ml−1, respectively, suggesting that the array is a promising candidate for label-free biomedical sensing.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3381

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