Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

DOI 10.1007/s11468-008-9055-1

Sensitivity of Optical Fiber Sensor Based on Surface

Plasmon Resonance: Modeling and Experiments
M. Kanso & S. Cuenot & G. Louarn

Received: 26 June 2007 / Accepted: 17 January 2008 / Published online: 27 February 2008
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract In this paper, surface plasmon resonance curves

of an optical fiber-based sensor were investigated. From an
experimental and theoretical perspective, the response
curves were analyzed and discussed. Precisely, such curves
were calculated by modeling the analyte/metallic layer
interface using a multilayer system, including the effects of
roughness. Then, the experimental response curves observed in solutions with different refractive indices were
compared to the simulated curves. Good agreement was
obtained with respect to the resonance peak location and
the shape of the curves. Consequently, these results enabled
us to predict the ideal functioning conditions of the sensor,
i.e., the working parameters corresponding to the best
sensitivities of detection.
Keywords SPR . Optical fiber . Numerical simulation .
Sensitivity . Plasmonics sensor

Introduction
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a very sensitive
technique for determining small refractive index changes
at the interface between a metallic layer and a dielectric
medium (analyte) [1]. This technique is widely used as a
detection principle for many sensors that operate in
different areas such as gas detection or bio- and chemicalsensing [2, 3]. SPR has shown great potential for
biomolecular interaction study, allowing real-time analysis
M. Kanso : S. Cuenot : G. Louarn (*)
Institut des Matriaux Jean Rouxel, UMR 6502,
CNRS-Universit de Nantes,
BP 32229, 44322 Nantes, France
e-mail: guy.louarn@cnrs-imn.fr

without the use of labeled molecules. SPR is one of the

most widely used technologies for biomolecular interaction
observations. During the last 20 years, several companies
have commercialized SPR sensor equipment. Generally,
these equipments were built from an optical system made of
a transducer that analyzes the (bio)chemical activity and
transfers this information to the optical setup and an
electronic system, which allows for data processing.
Biological targets are generally transported through a
microfluidic system by a buffer fluid or a carried fluid.
With SPR sensors, when the transducing media (ligands)
react with the target molecules present in the analyte, the
refractive index at the surface changes, and this change is
determined by optical interrogation (Fig. 1).
To perform this interrogation, usually the optical response
is detected using an optical structure with a thin metallic
layer coated on a prism coupler (Kretschmann configuration) [4]. The aim of this coupler is to excite and interrogate
the surface plasma waves (SPW) generated on the interface
metalanalyte. The excitation of SPW by the incident
optical wave results in the resonant transfer of energy into
the SPW, which can be evidenced by the resonant
absorption of incident light. As this absorption is resonant,
the intensity of the reflected light presents a sharp minimum
dip. When the refractive index of the analyte changes,
different conditions will be required to satisfy the coupling
condition and the position of the minimum will change.
This shift in the resonance location can be monitored by angle,
wavelength (angular or wavelength interrogation), or
reflection intensity changes. It is possible to track this shift
with a great degree of accuracy offering then a very high
limit of detection. However, the complexity associated with
instrumentation restricts its use to a laboratory environment
(rather big device, with long turning arms where lights
sources and detectors are placed).

50

Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of the conventional SPR principle,

showing the Kretschmann prism and the flow cell

In spite of this fact, the SPR is an established technique

that has been used to satisfy the recent need for miniaturization and integration. In this manner, new alternative
configurations are still being developed by creative engineering [5]. Similar to fluorescence for surface interaction
analysis and biosensing, recent developments in optical
fibers and waveguiding-based SPR devices will increase the
use of SPR.
Although the sensitivity is weaker than that obtained for
conventional SPR (prism configuration), optical fiber SPR
(OF-SPR) shows great promise for applications with low cost,
smaller test volume, and remote monitoring in dangerous
environments [6, 7]. Indeed, apart from the higher limit of
detection, it is important to recognize the advantages of
optical fiber biosensors, including the instrument and optical
setup low costs, the availability of inexpensive lasers and
photodetectors, and their compatibility to a wide range of
surface modifications.
The OF-SPR device is not different from a standard
prism SPR system. The realization of OF-SPR sensors is
based on a similar concept; specifically, a chemical ligand
is fixed to the metallic fiber surface. Then, the analyte flows
in the microfluidic channel and the target molecules bind to
the ligands, creating a thicker layer that can be sensed by a
tiny change in the refractive index. The most important
differences concern the axy-symmetric geometry and the
fact that reflexions occur frequently on the optical fiber
surface (Fig. 2). This complicates the theoretical treatment
of the system.
The performance of sensors is generally discussed in
terms of sensitivity, limit of detection, and operating range
for the species to be detected. Choices of couplers (prism or
optical fiber) and interrogation modes are really important
because they substantially affect these three crucial param-

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

eters. Whereas selectivity and response time of the sensor

are predominantly determined by the transducing medium,
the sensitivity and accuracy are governed by the properties
of the optical system. Until recently, it has been very
difficult to directly compare the performance of sensors
because the definitions for these relevant parameters differ.
Indeed, for example, chemists generally use concentration
(pg/ml or pM) as units of accuracy, physicists use the
refractive index unit (RIU), and biologists use colonyforming units per milliliter. Nowadays, the best sensitivities
obtained in the prism configuration are well established,
around 5105 RIU/nm in wavelength interrogation, 5
103 RIU/deg in angular interrogation, and the limit of
detection ranged from 107 to 5108 RIU [810]. On the
contrary, concerning OF-SPR sensors, sensitivities and
limits of detection strongly differ according to the published
works in the literature ([10, 11] and references therein).
Thus, if sensitivities from 5104 to 105 RIU/nm are
regularly published, depending on the geometries and the
configurations chosen, a large dispersion exists for the limit
of detection from 103 to 107 RIU. However, it should be
stressed that the greatest sensitivities are not always
required. More precisely, these sensitivities depend on the
application intended (particularly for chemo sensors).
Notice that researchers have recently tried to gather these
results, but it was not always clear to draw conclusions due
to the various target molecules and the wide range of
available optical setups [10, 11]. As information provided
here cannot be exhaustive, readers are encouraged to read
other reviews on SPR, which deal with the comparison
between SPR configurations and other methods [812].
The sensitivity and the limit of detection of such SPR
sensors can be optimized through the determination of ideal
geometrical parameters and the knowledge of the best
working conditions. In this way, experimental parametric
studies or numerical simulations of SPR response curves
seem to be two particularly interesting approaches. Papers
have already been published by the authors on the
manufacturing process of miniaturized OF-SPR sensors
[13, 14]. The OF-SPR response with a silver coating has
cladding

a)
a
Mirror

b)
b

Gold layer

c)
c
Fig. 2 Illustration (non exhaustive) of a few typical OF-SPR sensors. a
Retro-reflecting OF-SPR, b tip tapered OF-SPR, c decladded OF-SPR

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

been characterized vs different parameters, such as the

metallic film thickness and the grafting of a selective
organic transducing layer. In particular, the tapered tip
sensor presented with a sensitivity of 3.104 RIU/nm over a
wide region, which is good for chemo and biodetection
applications. However, it should be emphasized here that
SPR sensors with silver oxidize very easily, and they could
only be used for a single analysis. For gold-coated SPR
sensors, it is possible to evaluate more than 200 cycles
without changing the biological receptor due to the stability
of the system. In a recent paper, the effects of this gold
layer on the SPR response curves were investigated from
numerical simulations, as well as by the experimental
approach [15]. This paper was focused on the role of
metallic layer roughness, which was considered in the wk
dispersion relationship (perturbation term extracted from
the spatial treatment of the roughness). The obtained results
tend to show that roughness is a crucial parameter for
comparing SPR experiments and simulations.
Until recently, numerous works, theoretical and experimental, have been devoted to the study of different
parameters of the metallic layer on the location of SPR
absorption bands [6, 7, 1521]. However, to our knowledge, no study has focused on the comparison between
experimental SPR response curves and simulated ones in
the case of an optical fiber configuration. As a first goal, the
experimental SPR curves of solutions with different
refractive indices were compared to numerically calculated
curves. For these simulations, we developed a numerical
model established from Fresnels equations, where the
analyte/metallic layer interface was modeled by a multilayer system, including the roughness of the gold film. The
comparison was not only realized for the resonance peak
location but also for the whole shape of response curves,
sensitivity, and the signal-to-noise ratio.

Theory background
Surface plasmon is a charge-density oscillation, which can
exist at the interface between metallic and dielectric media.
This electronic oscillation is associated with a surface
electromagnetic wave, a so-called SPW, of which the
electric field is maximum at the interface and decreases
evanescently into both media. Under certain specific
conditions, the energy carried by photons arriving at the
metal/dielectric interface can be transferred to the surface
plasmons. If this transfer is achieved, part of the light is
absorbed and the phenomenon is called SPR. More
precisely, considering a system of three superposed layers,
the first (layer 1) corresponds to a dielectric
medium
(prism



or optical fiber) of refractive index n0 n20 "0 , the second
(layer 2) is a metallic layer characterized by a dielectric

51

function m, and the third (layer 3) represents a dielectric

medium (analyte) with a dielectric constant s (Fig. 3).
The classical SPR coupling condition is obtained by
equaling the tangential component of the wave-vector kx of
the incident light and is propagated in layer 1 with the
propagation constant sp of the SPWs, present at the layer2/
layer3 interface. If the incident beam is propagated in layer
1 with an incident angle with respect to the normal of the
interface and 1 is the vacuum wavelength 1 2c=w,
then the coupling condition can be written as Eq. 1:

bsp kx )

 w  r
" "
m s

"m "s

p w
" sin q
c

The values of the dielectric functions, 0 and m defined

above, were previously determined. For 0, the analytic
formula (Eq. 2) of the fused silica dielectric constant at
room temperature should be given by the Schott glass
formula (power series approximation to the Sellmeier),
which is valid for the wavelength range of interest and lies
between 500 and 1,200 nm [22, 23].
"0 l n0 l2 A0 A1 l2 A2 l2

The dielectric function, m, corresponding to a gold film

was obtained following the approach developed in reference [24]. The frequency-dependent optical properties of
gold in the visible/near-UV range can be represented by
an analytical formula (3) with three main components: (1)
the contribution of a Drude model and (2) two contributions related to the interband transitions G1(w) and G2(w)
(Table 1).

"Au w "1 

w2p
ww i  w

G1 w G2 w

wp is the plasma frequency, wt the damping frequency, and

"1 the high-frequency dielectric constant.

s
Evanescent field

k
kx

m
0

Fig. 3 Three-layer system used for the Fresnel calculations of light

reflexion on a metal surface

52

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

Table 1 Values extracted from the calculation of the dielectric

function of gold in the 5501,000 nm range (Eqs. 3 and 4)
Parameters (units)

Values

"1
wp rad=s
w rad=s
C1
w1 rad=s
w1 rad=s
C2
w2 rad=s
w2 rad=s

1.37
1.171016
1.531014
0.76
4.011015
8.271014
1.22
5.601015
2.10 1015

The critical point transitions, G1(w) and G2(w), were

used as described in reference [25]:


p
p
ei 4
ei 4
Gi w Ci
4
wi  w  iwti wi w iwti
Where Ci is the amplitude, wi is the interband transition
energy (gap), and wti is the broadening of the transition
band i.
To account for the roughness of the gold surface, the
surface roughness was directly included into the calculation of
an effective dielectric function. This dielectric function (Eq. 5)
is determined according to the Maxwell Garnett theory by
defining an added pseudolayer (Fig. 4) [15, 26, 27].
eeff w em w 

3  2qes 2qem w
qes 3  qem w

where q represents the volume fraction of the metallic

constituent.

Experimental section
Acquisition set-up

aperture of 0.39. At the middle of the fiber, about 2 cm of

cladding was thermally removed and the fiber was cleaned
with acetone. A thin film of gold (between 20 and 80 nm) was
deposited on the fiber core using the vacuum thermal
evaporation technique. Before experiments, the two fiber
ends were carefully cleaved to minimize light scattering. The
optical set up for spectroscopy measurements, presented in
Fig. 5, was mainly divided into four parts, a tungsten
halogen light source (HL-2000, Mikropack), a sensing fiber,
a cell, and a spectrophotometer (model S2000, Ocean
Optics). Several solutions of glycerol (Aldrich)/water were
prepared with different RIUs from 1.3335 to 1.4110
(measured at 23 C with an Abbe refractometer).
Numerical procedure
The response curves of the optical fiber-based sensor are
computed. After this, the location of the lowest transmitted
power and the width of the dip were extracted and
compared to the experimental data. To achieve this goal,
we developed modeling for the reflectance R of the light in
the optical fiber, based on the Fresnel transfer matrix
formalism. We calculate the transmission of the sensing
fiber by computing the multiple reflexions of the incident
ray in the fiber. Figure 6 is a representation of a light ray
propagating through the fiber.
A matrix method developed for analysis of thin film
optical filters has been used to compute the reflexion
coefficients. This part, which is based on the calculation of
the light propagation through a multilayer medium [28], is
detailed in the Appendix. From the Eqs. 12 and 13, the
reflectance R of our multilayer system (depicted in Fig. 3)
was implemented.
The resulting transmitted power Ptrans through the
complete fiber was then calculated by integrating the
product of the light reflectance RN by the angular power
distribution P(0) (see Appendix). The whole light reflec-

Multimode plastic-clad silica optical fiber (model FT300EMT

was purchased from Thorlabs) with core and cladding
diameters of 300 and 330 m, respectively, and a numerical

Ro
Rotary
peristaltic Pump

Buffer

Analyte

Pseudo
layer
Optical fiber sensor

metal
Fig. 4 Schematic representation of the pseudolayer used in roughness
modeling. The corresponding effective dielectric function was
obtained from the adapted MaxwellGarnett theory

Light
source

Optical
detection unit

Flow channel
Waste

Fig. 5 Schematic illustration of the OF-SPR setup used in this study

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

Fig. 6 Schematic illustration of
the light path in the OF-SPR
sensor

53

Pin (in )

in

Metallic layer

Ptrans(, 0 )

tance is obtained by adding 50% of light reflectance for a ppolarization, Rp, with 50% of light reflectance for spolarization, Rs, (Eqs. 12 and 13):
hR

N ;;
=2
Ptrans l; eN / crit Rp l; 0 ; eN ref
i
6
R =2
P0 d0 crit Rs l; 0 ; eN Nref ;; P0 d0
where crit sin1 ncl =n0 is the critical fiber angle and
where Nref L=D  tan 0 is the number of reflections
within the active area of the sensor, with D and L
representing the core diameter and the length of the active
area, respectively (Fig. 6).
Until recently, only meridional rays have been considered. Of course, complete modeling should account for the
skew ray trajectory [16, 29], but in this case, the study
would be more complex. However, in agreement with
Sharma et al. [19], the approximation considering only
meridional rays is sufficient for a complete understanding
of sensor performance.
Moreover, it should be noticed that the Gos Haenchen
effect is not considered in the calculus of Nref. However,
because this effect is very small, especially in the case of a
dielectricmetal interface, it is usually neglected. Indeed,
the lateral beam displacement of the totally reflective light
beam at the dielectricmetal interface is estimated to be
several micrometers. Consequently, this displacement has
no effect on the simulated curves of this work [30, 31].
The experimental response curves represent the transmittance T(l) through the fiber as a function of the
wavelength. The transmittance is defined (Eq. 7) as the
ratio between the transmitted power Psens through the fiber,
which is immersed into the analyte, and the transmitted
power Pref obtained for a blank medium.

2 R 
3
N


=2
sens
sens N
R

R
P

d
p
s
crit
7
Psens l 6
7


T l
6



4
5
N
N
R
Pref l
=2
ref
ref
P

d
R

R
p
s
crit
7
Numerical calculations for theoretical SPR curves were
performed using Matlab software. For these calculations,
the dielectric constant of fused silica was analytically
determined using Eq. 2. The parameters were adjusted on
experimental data, which were obtained from a handbook

of optics [22, 23]. The best agreement was found with A0 =

2.09888, A1 =0.00935 m2, and A2 =0.01141 m2.
In SPR-based experiments, silver and gold layers are
mainly employed because the corresponding SPRs are
located in the visible range. For applications like chemical
sensors, the high stability of gold films offers an undeniable
advantage, although these films produce a broader resonance peak with respect to that obtained from silver films.
As the optical properties of gold thin films are strongly
dependent on the process used, the Drude parameters and
the critical point transition parameters were adjusted by
fitting the experimental dielectric function of our thin gold
layers. Note that the experimental data (not presented here)
were obtained by ellipsometry measurement.
The roughness of the gold surface was directly included
into the calculation as a very thin layer to which we
associated a thickness d and an effective complex permittivity eff. The values of these two parameters were
previously determined from AFM images of gold surface:
q=0.51, d=5.75 nm [15, 32]. By a statistical analysis of the
height distribution, d is close to three-times the root mean
square roughness (also, namely, Rq) for a Gaussian height
distribution.
For the numerical calculations, the length of the sensing
area, L, and the core diameter of the used optical fibers, D,
were 20 mm and 300 m, respectively. The only adjustable
parameter to simulate the SPR curves was gold thickness, dm.

Results and discussion

To determine the ideal working conditions for an optical
fiber-based sensor, the experimental response curves were
first compared to the calculated curves. The SPR response
curves, which represent the normalized transmitted power
through the optical fiber as a function of the wavelength T
(l), were measured for several solutions with different
refractive indices (inset in Fig. 7). For each experimental
response curve, the wavelength value associated with
minimal transmitted power (lTmin) was extracted. The
whole values of lTmin, as a function of the refractive
indices, are reported in Fig. 7. To obtain the simulated
curve, the gold thickness, dm, was adjusted such that the
minimum experimental transmitted power (ns =1.3335)
corresponded to the calculated value.

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

900
850

-Tmin

800
750

-Tmin

600

700
800
900
Wavelength (nm)

1000

700
650
simulated curve
experimental values

600
550
1.32

1.34

1.36

1.38

1.40

1.42

refractive index
Fig. 7 Numerical predictions and experimental values of lTmin as a
function of the refractive index. lTmin values correspond to the
minimum of the transmitted power (in the inset, typical response curve
is presented)

In Fig. 7, the value used for dm was 22 nm, which is

close to the thicknesses obtained from AFM measurements
on other gold-coated optical fibers. Then, the simulated
curve in Fig. 7 was realized without any other adjustable
parameters. Good agreement was observed between the
experimental lTmin values and the predicted values for the
different refractive indices tested. However, for refractive
index values higher than 1.40, the corresponding SPR
response curves present a wide absorption peak and the
accuracy of the peak location is reduced.
To predict the sensor sensitivity, although it is important
to match the experimental resonance peak locations with
the calculated values, the whole shape of the response
curves must be well-described. In Fig. 8, experimental and
simulated SPR response curves corresponding to four
different refractive indices were presented in the wavelength range of 5501,000 nm. By adjusting the gold
thickness in our three-layer modeling, the whole shape of
the calculated curves fit well with the experimental curves
for the different indices. However, this agreement is better
in the case of sharper resonance peaks (i.e., for lower
refractive indices) with respect to broader curves obtained
in solutions with higher refractive indices.
By this agreement, the multilayer modeling is validated
and the simulations could be used as predictive tools to
determine the ideal functioning conditions of the sensor. From
Figs. 7 and 8, two kinds of sensor sensitivity can be defined
either by calculating the shift in resonance wavelength per
unit change in refractive index Sln as proposed in Eq. 8 or
by calculating the variation in the transmitted power per unit
change in refractive index (STn) [33].
Sln

@lres
@ns

nm=RIU

From the definition of the sensitivity Sln , Table 2

reports the experimental and simulated values of Sln . Good
agreement is obtained between the experimental and
calculated sensitivities and the values are comprised
between 1.6103 and 3103 nm/RIU. In addition to the
sensitivity, the detection accuracy, defined from the shape
of the curve at resonance point, is a second important
performance parameter. One way to estimate the detection
accuracy is to compare the signal-to-noise ratio SNR, which
is inversely proportional to SPR curve width, described by
the Eq. 9 [11]. As a consequence, the narrower the width,
the higher the detection accuracy.


lres
SNRns
9
l1=2 ns
where lres is the resonance wavelength shift induced and
l1=2 is the full width at half maximum of the transmission
dip. The experimental and calculated SNR values are
obtained from curves presented in Fig. 8 and reported in
Table 2. SNR is a dimensionless parameter strongly
dependent on the refractive index changes.
As expected, these SNR values are weaker than those
obtained with the prism configuration. Indeed, the full
width at half maximum of SPR curves measured with an
optical fiber is larger than that corresponding to prism
configuration. The main reason explaining this broadening
results from spectral interrogation, which is realized simultaneously on the wavelengths and angles. During such
interrogation, the observed absorption band is the result of
the convolution of different resonance peaks. Each peak is
obtained for a specific resonance condition defined by a
given anglewavelength couple. Consequently, decreasing
the acceptance cone of light ray in the fiber reduces

Normalized transmitted power

950

Normalized transmitted power

54

simulated curves
experimental results
1.0

0.5

0.0

a
600

700

800

900

1000

Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 8 Simulated (straight lines) and experimental (dashed lines) SPR
response curves as a function of the wavelength of four refractive
indices: a) 1.3335 (black lines), b) 1.3668 (red lines), c) 1.3844 (blues
lines), and d) 1.4018 (green lines)

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

55

Table 2 Signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity values of an optical fiber, obtained for three refractive indices
ns (RIU)

Indices (RIU)

1.3335
1.3668
1.3844
1.4018

lTmax (nm)

0.0333
0.0509
0.0683

SNR

Sln (nm/RIU)

Expt.

Theo.

Expt.

Theo.

Expt.

Theo.

594
647
715
798

592
645
698
796

0.404
0.924
1.557

0.379
0.757
1.457

1.592103
2.043103
2.987103

1.592103
2.082103
2.987103

Theo = theoretical values, Expt = experimental values

broadening. In other words, the numerical aperture of the

optical system has to be reduced for increasing SNR.
However, as suggested by Sharma and coauthors [19],
attention should be paid to the sensitivity Sln, which
decreases with the aperture. It should be stressed that a
compromise has to be found to optimize Sln and SNR as a
function of the numerical aperture.
Another possibility of characterizing the sensor sensitivity is to determine changes in the transmitted power as a
function of the refractive index for a given wavelength.
Such sensitivity is defined in the following Eq. 10:
 

1 
@T
STn
Riu
10
@ns l
As this sensitivity is strongly dependent on the wavelength used, it is crucial to determine the working
wavelength, for which changes of the transmitted power
are greatest. In this manner, Fig. 9 reported the subtraction
between the transmitted power T for three refractive
indices given and the response curves obtained in water, as
a function of the wavelength. For each curve, two extrema

1.0

can be extracted at 571 and 689 nm for an index of 1.3668,

at 582 and 720 nm for an index of 1.3844 and at 594 and
820 nm for an index of 1.4018. In this case, the best
working condition of the sensor will be to use the
wavelength where the variation T is the highest (approximately 580 nm). In addition, at this wavelength, T
presents the advantage to vary monotonously with the
refractive index. For the second extrema (upper to 680 nm),
as the minima of T changes significantly (from 689 to
820 nm) when the refractive indices increase (from 1.3668
to 1.4018), it will be very difficult to choose one efficient
working wavelength.
By working with the wavelength corresponding to the
first extrema (lw =582 nm, Fig. 9), experimental points and
simulated values of T as a function of refractive indices
are reported in Fig. 10. As expected, the sensor sensitivity
(the slope of the curve) remains particularly high, STn 
17:8 in the range of 1.331.38 RIU, and decreases
dramatically for upper values. If the indices are out of this
range, the best sensitivity will be obtained by changing the
working wavelength.

simulated curves
experimental results

1.0

0.5

0.0

0.6

0.8

-0.5

a
b

0.4
0.2
experimental data
numerical calculation

-1.0
600

700

800

900

1000

Wavelength (nm)
Fig. 9 Simulated and experimental T curves (straight and dashed
lines, respectively) as a function of the wavelength of three refractive
indices: a) 1.3668 (red lines), b) 1.3844 (blue lines), and c) 1.4018
(green lines)

0.0
1.34

1.36

1.38

1.40

1.42

Refractive index
Fig. 10 Simulated and experimental T data as a function of the
refractive index at a wavelength of 582 nm

56

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

Conclusion
This paper presents a comparison between numerical simulations and experimental SPR response curves obtained for
optical fiber-based sensors. The numerical calculations, based
on the transfer matrix formalism, were realized by modeling
the analyte/metallic layer interface with a multilayer system.
Good agreement was observed for the resonance wavelength
location, as well as the whole shape of the response curve.
Then, for a given sensor geometry, the experimental and
predicted sensitivities of sensors were compared and discussed.
Finally, the best working conditions of sensors, i.e., those for
which the optical fiber sensor offered the best sensitivities of
detection, were determined. Although these sensors were not
geometrically optimized, optical fiber-based sensors remain
particularly interesting as remote sensors. Because of the good
agreement, numerical simulations could be used to predict
better functioning conditions of such sensors, but also to
determine their ideal geometrical parameters.

E 0i

H 0i

k
E 0r

N
x
z

0
H

d1
r
0

dk

Fig. 11 Electric and magnetic field vectors of p wave at the inner

surface of the multilayer system

zk  zk1 of this kth layer distributed along the z-axis,

the incident angle 0, and wavelength l. This phase factor
is defined as:
k

1=2
2
2dk

ek  n20 sin2 0
nk cos k  zk  zk1
l
l

Appendix
Transfer matrix formalism for a multilayer system
In this appendix, we briefly explain the concept employed to
realize the numerical modeling. The reflectance R of the light
on our multilayer system was computed using the transfer
matrix formalism. This formalism, which is based on the
calculation of light propagation through a multilayer medium
consisting of (N1) isotropic and homogeneous layers, has
already been extensively described [28]. A computer
simulation was performed on three- and four-layer systems
(optical fibermetalanalyte), as depicted in Fig. 3.
This electromagnetic analysis of light reflection on a
multilayer system was solved by the Maxwells equations
subjected to boundary conditions. The Maxwells equation
states that the relationships between fundamental electromagnetic quantities, as the electric field vector E and the
magnetic field vector H. A schematic illustration of the
system is presented in Fig. 11. The amplitude of E and H
vectors are related to the formula within the framework of
transfer matrix formalism, Eq. 11:
 


E0
EN
M  
11
H0
HN
where [M] is the characteristic matrix of the layered system
defined by the following:

 NY

1 
i sin k
M11 M12
cos k

k
M 

M21 M22
ik sin k cos k
k1
k, the phase factor of the kth layer is a function of the
refractive index nk ek k 1=2 , the thickness dk

hk , the optical admittance is defined as a function of the

polarization states as:
 1=2


1=2
sk "k
cos k "k  n20 sin2 0
for s-wave
k


(TE).
"k 1=2
1
"k

s for p-wave (TM).
pk
cos k k
k
Finally, the reflectance R of the whole multilayer
structure is provided in terms of Fresnel reflection
coefficients (rs and rp) and then in terms of M elements as
(Eqs. 12 and 13):



M s M s  s  s 
M s M s  s  2

11
2
12
N
0
21
22
N




Rs jrs j s
s  s;p s M s M s  s
M11 M12
N
N
0
21
22
12




p
 2
p
p
p
2 M11
M12
 pN p0  M21
M22
 pN




p

Rp rp
p
p
p
M11 M12
 pN p0 M21
M22
 pN
13
Power distribution launched in the optical fiber
The power distribution Pin(in) included into a solid angle
din arriving at the fiber-end face of
an optical
 2 fiber
 is
generally expressed as Pin in din / tan in cos in din ,
where in is the launched angle of the rays (Fig. 6). in can
be expressed as a function of 0 from the Snells law:
qin arcsinn0 cos q 0 .

Plasmonics (2008) 3:4957

57

Finally, the power distribution P(0) can be written as [17]:

Pq 0 dq 0 /

"0 sin q0 cos q0

1  "0 cos2 q 0 2

dq0

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