Plasmonic laser sensors (Presentation Recording)

Renmin Ma; Sadao Ota; Yimin Li; Sui Yang; Xiang Zhang

doi:10.1117/12.2186086

5 October 2015 Plasmonic laser sensors (Presentation Recording)

Renmin Ma, Sadao Ota, Yimin Li, Sui Yang, Xiang Zhang

Proceedings Volume 9547, Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XIII; 95470B (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2186086
Event: SPIE Nanoscience + Engineering, 2015, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Perhaps the most successful application of plasmonics to date has been in sensing, where the interaction of a nanoscale localized field with analytes leads to high-sensitivity detection in real time and in a label-free fashion. However, all previous designs have been based on passively excited surface plasmons, in which sensitivity is intrinsically limited by the low quality factors induced by metal losses. It has recently been proposed theoretically that surface plasmon sensors with active excitation (gain-enhanced) can achieve much higher sensitivities due to the amplification of the surface plasmons. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an active plasmon sensor that is free of metal losses and operating deep below the diffraction limit for visible light. Loss compensation leads to an intense and sharp lasing emission that is ultrasensitive to adsorbed molecules. We validated the efficacy of our sensor to detect explosives in air under normal conditions and have achieved a sub-part-per-billion detection limit, the lowest reported to date for plasmonic sensors with 2,4-dinitrotoluene and ammonium nitrate. The selectivity between 2,4-dinitrotoluene, ammoniumnitrate and nitrobenzene is on a par with other state-of-the-art explosives detectors. Our results show that monitoring the change of the lasing intensity is a superior method than monitoring the wavelength shift, as is widely used in passive surface plasmon sensors. We therefore envisage that nanoscopic sensors that make use of plasmonic lasing could become an important tool in security screening and biomolecular diagnostics.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Renmin Ma, Sadao Ota, Yimin Li, Sui Yang, and Xiang Zhang "Plasmonic laser sensors (Presentation Recording)", Proc. SPIE 9547, Plasmonics: Metallic Nanostructures and Their Optical Properties XIII, 95470B (5 October 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2186086

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KEYWORDS

Sensors

Plasmonics

Surface plasmons

Active sensors

Explosives

Metals

Diffraction

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