One-dimensional photonic crystal for Bloch surface waves and radiation modes-based sensing

Abstract

We report on a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPhC) represented by a multilayer structure used for a surface plasmon-like sensing based on Bloch surface waves and radiation modes employing a structure comprising a glass substrate and four bilayers of TiO2/SiO2 with a termination layer of TiO2. We model the reflectance responses in the Kretschmann configuration with a coupling prism made of BK7 glass and express the reflectances for both (s and p) polarizations in the spectral domain for various angles of incidence to show that a sharp dip associated with the Bloch surface wave (BSW) excitation is obtained in p polarization when an external medium (analyte) is air. For s-polarized wave BSW is not excited and a shallow dip associated with the guided mode excitation is obtained for a liquid analyte (water). For decreasing angle of incidence, the dip depth is substantially increased, and resonance thus obtained is comparable in magnitude with resonance commonly exhibited by SPR-based sensors. In addition, we revealed that the resonances in s-polarization are obtained for other analytes. The surface plasmon-like sensing concept was verified experimentally in the Kretschmann configuration for the guided mode transformed into the radiation mode with a negative and constant sensitivity of -169 nm/RIU, and a detection limit of 5.9 x 10(-5) RIU.