Substrate material influence on the deep-ultraviolet surface plasmon resonance sensors using aluminum films

Aluminum-based deep-ultraviolet surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have gained much interest in the last years. Multilayer Fresnel-based theoretical investigations were used here to investigate the influence of substrate materials on an aluminum-based SPR sensor. The reflectivity curves were obtained for a wavelength of 266 nm, by considering fused silica, sapphire, calcium fluoride and acrylic solacryl UVT as substrate materials. Performance parameters indicate that sapphire, acrylic solacryl and fused silica may be good alternatives for the design of sensors for gaseous and aqueous solutions. A comparison was also made with a gold-based SPR sensor, and the aluminum-based sensor had better results.