High-sensitivity sensing based on intensity-interrogated Bloch surface wave sensors

A high-sensitivity sensing scheme based on Bloch surface wave is presented with the simple intensity interrogation configuration. The p-polarized electromagnetic surface wave is designed to be excited in a one-dimensional photonic crystal band-gap structure, and support a rather steep resonance dip, much sharper than that of the well-known surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Although the angular shift of this Bloch-surface-wave-based sensor is not as sensitive, the intensity measurement proves to be a more suitable scheme for Bloch surface wave based sensors, thanks to the sharpness of their resonance. Through detection of glycerol in water solution for different concentrations, the intensity sensitivity of our Bloch-surface-wave-based sensor significantly surpasses that of the conventional SPR-based sensors. Experimental results show that the sensor could achieve a detection limit as low as 7.5 × 10−7 refractive index units in a simple lab setup, which is much simpler than many of the much more complicated SPR-based platforms.