Hypersensitivity and Applications of Cladding Modes of Optical Fibers Coated with Nanoscale Metal Layers

Theoretical and experimental results are presented to show that the complex effective index of the modes of optical fibers coated with non-uniform metal coatings of gold, silver, copper, or palladium, with thicknesses between 0 and 20 nm, acquire a greatly enhanced sensitivity to various forms of pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jacques Albert, Fu Liu, Violeta Marquez-Cruz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/5/1518
Description
Summary:Theoretical and experimental results are presented to show that the complex effective index of the modes of optical fibers coated with non-uniform metal coatings of gold, silver, copper, or palladium, with thicknesses between 0 and 20 nm, acquire a greatly enhanced sensitivity to various forms of perturbations. Thickness changes of less than 1 nm can be measured as well as the binding of record low concentrations of chemical and biochemical species.
ISSN:1424-8220