Exploitation of enhanced fluorescence via cross coupling principles towards the design of an optical integrated thin-film sensor for nanotechnology and biomedical applications

A novel fluorescence thin-film integrated sensor has been proposed that retains the beneficial selectivity characteristics typical of optical and electronic sensors, while improving the signal-to-noise ratio in a miniature geometry. The sensor can be tuned to measure a wide variety of biological species by varying its thin-film corrugation period. The optical properties of the sensor are determined, in large part, by optical cross coupling through corrugated metal film and enhanced fluorescence. The surface plasmon-surface plasmon cross coupling was theoretically modeled and experimentally tested. Finally, prospective applications of this sensor in key areas of nanotechnology and bioengineering are discussed.