Enhancing light-matter interaction via Bloch surface waves for biosensing applications

We present two different configurations for the detection of Bloch surface waves in silicon nitride multilayers: attenuated total reflectance and photoluminescence measurements. In the first case, we measured a 50-fold enhancement of the diffraction signal by a protein grating printed on the multilayer when the incident light beam is coupled to the surface waves. In the second case, we observe a significant modification of the spontaneous emission by a monolayer of rhodamine molecules bonded to the photonic crystal surface. These results may found application in the field of optical sensors and biosensors.