Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2019) 134: 435
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-12819-3

Regular Article

Sensitivity comparison of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and magneto-optic SPR biosensors

¹ Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, York University, 4700 Keele St, M3J 1P3, Toronto, ON, Canada
² Nanophotonics Laboratory, GEM Systems Inc., L3R 5H6, Markham, ON, Canada
³ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninslie Gory, 1, bld.2, 119992, Moscow, Russia
⁴ Russian Quantum Center, Business-center, “Ural”, Skolkovskoe shosse 45, 121353, Moscow, Russia

^* e-mail: crizal@yorku.ca

Received: 10 March 2019
Accepted: 10 June 2019
Published online: 10 September 2019

Abstract

Sensitivity of a biosensor is one of the most important parameters that determines its performance. It depends on many factors, such as excitation wavelength of incident optical radiation ( , composition, type, and thickness of the ferromagnetic Co layer ( , plasmonic Au, and high refractory metal, Ti, involved, and sensing/excitation configuration. In this paper, both the surface plasmon resonance (SPR at the magnetic field, H = 0 and magneto-optic SPR (MOSPR at H sensitivity of the sensors have been theoretically calculated in the visible wavelength regime using air-helium media as probing samples in the Kretschmann configuration, and their performances are compared side by side. The calculated MOSPR sensitivity of /RIU (refractive index unit) at nm is almost 12.5× larger as compared to the SPR sensitivity of /RIU for the same geometry, excitation condition, and probing media. Likewise, the MOSPR sensitivity of /RIU at = 632.8 nm is almost 10× larger as compared to the MOSPR sensitivity of /RIU at = 515 nm for the same geometry and probing media. On decreasing the , the sensitivity of the MOSPR sensor is further increased by almost 3× , from /RIU at nm to /RIU at nm. The sensitivity can be further improved by additional optimization of the material used and sensor configuration employed for detection.