A surface plasmon resonance sensor based on a single mode D-shape polymer optical fiber

For the first time to our knowledge, we report a successful fabrication of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors in a specially developed single-mode birefringent polymer D-shape fiber with a core made of PMMA/PS copolymer. A small distance between the core and the cladding boundary allows to deposit a gold layer directly onto the flat fiber surface, which significantly simplifies the sensors fabrication process. The developed SPR sensor exhibits a sensitivity of 2765 nm RIU-1 for the refractive index of external medium equal to 1.410, which is similar to the sensitivity of the SPR sensors based on conventional side-polished single-mode silica fibers. Using the finite element method, we also numerically studied the sensor performance. The sensor characteristics obtained in the simulations are in a relatively good agreement with the experimental results.