Refractive index and temperature nanosensor with plasmonic waveguide system

A surface plasmon polariton sensor consisting of two metal-insulator-metal waveguides and a transverse rectangular resonator is proposed. Both refractive index and temperature sensing characteristics are analyzed by investigating the transmission spectra which demonstrates that the transmission peak wavelength shifting satisfies linear relation with environmental refractive index and temperature, respectively. The proposed design provides high refractive index and temperature sensitivity as 3.38×106%/RIU and 82%/K estimated by integrated response of the sensor, and owns the potentials for high-throughput array sensing. It is believed that the nanoscale sensor can be applied in spot detection for high speed multi-parameter sensing and accurate measurements.