| Summary: | We demonstrate an efficient sensing of both gaseous and aqueous analytes utilizing Bloch surface waves (BSWs) and guided waves (GWs) excited on a truncated one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPhC) composed of six TiO<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>/SiO<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> bilayers with a termination layer of TiO<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>. For the gaseous analytes, we show that 1DPhC can support the GW excited by an <i>s</i>-polarized wave and the theoretical shift of the resonance wavelength is linear for small changes in the analyte refractive index (RI), giving a constant RI sensitivity of 87 nm per RI unit (RIU). In addition, for the aqueous analytes, the GW excited by <i>s</i>-polarized and BSW by <i>p</i>-polarized waves can be resolved and exploited for sensing applications. We compare two designed and realized 1DPhCs with termination layer thicknesses of 60 nm and 50 nm, respectively, and show experimentally the differences in their very narrow reflectance and phase responses. An RI sensitivity and figure of merit as high as 544.3 nm/RIU and 303 RIU<inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula>, respectively, are obtained for the smaller thickness when both <i>s</i>- and <i>p</i>-polarized BSWs are excited. This is the first demonstration of both very deep BSW-based resonances in two orthogonal polarizations and a very narrow resonance in one of them.
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