Design of guided Bloch surface wave resonance bio-sensors with high sensitivity

The sensing performance of bio-sensors based on guided Bloch surface wave (BSW) resonance (GBR) is studied. GBR is realized by coupling the propagating electromagnetic wave with BSW on one side of a one-dimensional photonic crystal slab via the grating on the other side. The sensitivity of the designed bio-sensors is proportional to the grating constant when the wavelength spectrum is analyzed, and inversely proportional to the normal wave vector of the incident electromagnetic wave when the angular spectrum is resolved. For a GBR bio-sensor designed to operate near 70° angle of incidence from air, the angular sensitivity is very high, reaching 128 deg RIU−1. The sensitivity can be substantially increased by designing bio-sensors for operating at larger angles of incidence.